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A conference held Friday and today in Bozeman that, organizers say, promotes freedom of choice, has been criticized by human rights proponents as an alt-right recruiting attempt.

The Red Pill Expo, according to the conferences website, features speakers who will help you to break free from the avalanche of propaganda, fake news and outright deception, and to embrace reality for a better life.

The speakers include authors, public relations directors, journalists and activists. The conference schedule covers topics including health care, finance, climate science, globalization and politics, according to the website.

But Rachel Carroll Rivas, co-director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said the wide-ranging topics are purposefully designed to recruit people to white supremacist or alt-right causes.

Alt-right is a term embraced by some white supremacists and white nationalists to refer to their ideology, which emphasizes preserving and protecting the white race in the United States.

Carroll Rivas said in a statement Thursday that the organizers for the event hope to find people who will attend due to being interested in one topic and then be exposed to the wider right-wing agenda.

Folks should know what they are paying for when they walk in the door, Carroll Rivas wrote. Many well-meaning people may not have had their guard up about this event, but they should.

Debbie Bacigalupi, a volunteer for the conference who is listed on its website as manager for exhibitors and sponsors, said she didnt even know what the term alt-right meant.

Bacigalupi said the event welcomed people of all political backgrounds and that people should not be criticizing the event before they attend and see whats going on.

That person should come down here before they spew hatred, Bacigalupi said.

Bacigalupi said the Montana Human Rights Networks accusations against the expo were untrue. She said people attending Friday flew from different parts of the world and were there on their free will.

These people believe in individual choice, Bacigalupi said.

The conventions chairman, G. Edward Griffin, is the founder of Freedom Force International, which, according to its website, is a network of men and women who are concerned over loss of personal liberty and growth of government power. The name of the expo is taken from a line in the reality-bending sci-fi movie, The Matrix.

In spite of differences in culture, nationality, race, religion, life style, education and economic status, we are in solidarity with the Creed of Freedom, which is a statement of principles that guide us in our mission, the website said.

A link on the organizations website says, Red-Pill Expo: Because you know something is wrong. The event in Bozeman is being held at the Commons at Baxter and Love; organizers said tickets are sold out.

Carroll Rivas said the term red pill taps into a ready-made crowd of extremists. In her written statement, she said, The name of the event is frequently used by the alt-right to indicate that its followers are the only ones who know the truth about what is really going on in America today.

There is no reason Bozeman needs to put out the welcome mat for a gathering like the Rep Pill Expo that builds off of conspiratorial tendencies and props up extremists, she said.

More here:
Activists: Convention in Bozeman is 'alt-right' recruitment effort ... - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

By John Gallagher

The Democrats had pinned a lot of hopes on the special election in Georgias sixth congressional district. The seat, which was held by now Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, has been reliably Republican for years; it was the seat that Newt Gingrich held when he was in Congress. But Democrats thought that the high number of college-educated voters in the district made it ripe for capitalizing on uneasiness about President Trump.

Of course, that was wrong. But there was an ample sign that the district was never going to flip for a socially liberal candidate. And thats the districts history.

The district encompasses the northern suburbs of Atlanta, including a chunk of Cobb County. In the early 1990s, Cobb County was one of the chief battlegrounds of the culture war. In 1993,the County Commissioners passed a resolutionto openly and vigorously supports the current community standards and established state laws regarding gay lifestyles. The vote was greeted by Amens from the audience, and a pastor held a sign outside of the commission chambers that read Praise God for AIDS.

The vote resulted in a national controversy, butit was hardly a surprise.A portion of the interstate running through the county is named for a former John Birch Society leader. In the 1980s, the town of Kennesaw passed a resolution requiring all residents to own a gun. Even as the country expanded as Atlanta itself grew, the county maintained a distinctively conservative flavor.

The impact of the Cobb County resolution was more than symbolic, much to the countys detriment. As a sign of disapproval, the Olympic torch bypassed Cobb County on its way to the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and the Olympic volleyball game was moved to a different venue.

Eventually the county moved on to other issues, but it has never entirely rid itself of its homophobic past. The county commissioner race in 2012replayed the issue,as one of the pro-resolution commissioners sought to return to office. (The former commissioner, Bill Byrne, said he regretted his vote, because he has a lesbian daughter. He lost anyway.) A state legislator from Cobb introduced a religious liberty bill last year thatwould have repealed conflicting laws,otherwise known as nondiscrimination protections.

In short, a good chunk of the sixth congressional district was never going to be fertile territory for a Democrat like Jon Ossoff. Moreover, Republicans did their best to tar Ossoff as a rabid liberal,tying him to Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco values.San Francisco loves them some Jon Ossoff,a man in one ad intoned.

Most of the media played these ads as tarnishing Ossoffs carefully cultivated moderate image. But the ads were also a dog whistle. For religious conservatives, San Francisco is synonymous with all things gay. San Francisco has long been used by the religious right as shorthand for a modern-day Sodom, and we all know who put the sodomy in Sodom.

So ultimately, Ossoff was probably fighting a losing battle all along. (He wasnt an ideal candidate, but the winner, Karen Handel, was pretty inept herself.) Democrats will debate for months to come whether a different platform and different candidate could have convinced more voters to turn out. But the lesson of the election may be something entirely different: the culture wars are lingering, and they are still defining our political landscape.

This article originally appeared on Queerty

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Go here to see the original:
The Special Election in Georgia Shows that the Culture War and Homophobia Aren't Over Yet - The Good Men Project (blog)

Among the stranger sights in Portland political unrest in recent months: the alliance of the Multnomah County Republican Party with the movement of nationalists, militia men and racial provocateurs known as the "alt-right."

An anonymous threat to attack the GOP in an April community parade led to the parade's cancellationand to claims that the party was harboring white supremacists in its midst.

Multnomah County Republican Party chair James Buchal speaks at a June 4 free speech rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza. (Tom Berridge)

A new GOP fundraising letter shows that Buchal is taking the rhetoric further: He's asking Republicans to donate to the local chapter to battle "threats of Leftist violence."

"Republicans have been losing the culture wars for a long time, but violent attacks against freedom of speech and assembly by Republicans may mark the last battle in the culture wars," writes Buchal. "The rise of a totalitarian Leftist culture that rejects the First Amendment and permits no disagreement on fundamental political disputes threatens the end of American ideals. Their propaganda is simple, evil and wrong: they call any and all patriotism a form of bigotry."

Dueling rallies trade jeers on June 4. (Joe Michael Riedl)

He repeats his plan to hire Oath Keepers as security guards, and claims that protests by antifa are making Portland a dangerous place for conservatives. "Organized bands of masked thugs who call conservatives fascists or Nazis are rising rapidly within the city," he writes.

And Buchal says the Multnomah County GOP is running out of moneyas a direct result of left-wing intimidation.

"Most recently, we lost the restaurant venue where we were able to hold our membership meetings without rental fees," he writes, "because of the threat of Leftist violence."

Buchal tells WW he has yet to successfully recruit new active members from the protests or bring in money from the letter.

Buchal says he doesn't identify with the alt-right, or support protesters looking for a fight.

When asked about growing fears in Portland about the threat of violence from right-wing extremists and neo-Nazi groups, he said that was nonsense.

"Projection is a classic psychological phenomenon," he says. "In the city of Portland there's no cultural hostility toward Democrats, and I don't see any threats of violence against Democrats."

His letter says the June 4 rally, held in the wake of two murders on a MAX train allegedly committed by a white supremacist, offered "positive messages."

"We saw many young people who are sick and tired of being called racists and white supremacists for standing in support of Western civilization and cores conservative principles like the rule of law," he writes.

Street preachers hold the Christian flag at a right-wing free speech rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza on June 4, 2017. (Tom Berridge)

Read the original here:
Multnomah County Republicans Raise Funds By Alleging "Threats of Leftist Violence" - Willamette Week

AlterNet

Anti-Racism Author Tim Wise: White America Desperately Wants to Be Numb, and Donald Trump 'Is a Walking, Talking ... AlterNet Tim Wise: Of course, those of us who have tracked far right movements have always known that there are multiple permutations. It's not like an ancestry.com tree where you can just sort of trace it from Hitler on out and see the connections. I think it ...

Read this article:
Anti-Racism Author Tim Wise: White America Desperately Wants to Be Numb, and Donald Trump 'Is a Walking, Talking ... - AlterNet

In 2017, anyone can become a meme including civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and political talk show host Al Sharpton. Sharpton has been on a health kick recently and has been letting his Instagram followers track his fitness schedule with a high volume of selfies.

The pictures have become something of a sensation on the internet and the jokes have been rolling in. A video of Sharpton attempting a one-handed push-up went particularly viral, and Nelly even called for an Instagram boycott "until we find out who in the hell is leaking these AL Sharpton pictures."

In a recent interview with TMZ, Sharpton had some choice words for his haters. "I live in the Trump era, Sharpton said. If he can tweet at night, I can selfie before I go to the gym in the morning and dont be jealous because Im so fit at 62 years old.

Sharpton continued, "I work out. I was showing people you work out, you take your health seriously. I think its a good thing. Im gonna keep doing it.

Read more:
Al Sharpton On His Instagram Selfies: Don't Be Jealous Because I ... - The FADER