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As an attorney who has personally taken on a conspiracy theorist who believes himself above the law, I have followed the litigation in Texas against Alex Jones with keen interest.

Alex Jones whining about the unfairness of the legal system is the height of hypocrisy. Jones built an alt-right media empire reliant on legal protections that shielded him from being held responsible for the very real harm that he caused to innocent people. His ability to spout hate and vitriol is largely protected by the First Amendment and other state and federal laws. Hes used the platform provided by the protections in the American legal system to peddle snake-oil remedies around the globe and line his own pocketbook. And yet, even in the event of a judgment, his personal assets are largely shielded by laws that prohibit creditors from taking his home, his retirement accounts, and many kinds of other assets. He thrives precisely because of the rule of law.

But sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander. Having been haled into court for his defamatory attacks on innocent parents who lost their children at Sandy Hook, Jones steadfastly declined to abide by the rules of civil procedure and orders of the court. He refused to turn over documents and other evidence that likely demonstrated his knowledge that his statements about Sandy Hook and about the victims parents were false all along. Hes outrageously called upon his army of disbelievers to deliver the plaintiffs counsels head on a pike. Jones presumes the legal system should protect him, but should not govern him.

We saw the same duplicity in our recent litigation against another Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist, James Fetzer. There, Fetzer refused to follow the rules of civil procedure to be held to the same standard as any other litigant in our judicial system. The court applied the rules and correctly found that Fetzer had defamed our client, Lenny Pozner, whose young son was undeniably and tragically murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A jury applied the rules given to it by the court, considered the evidence and awarded Pozner $450,000.

Fetzer, like Jones, refused to abide by court orders. His intentional, repeated violation of court orders resulted in sanctions of another $650,000. And yet, like Jones, Fetzer complains incessantly that the judge, and the legal system itself, in our case was unfair. But like Jones, Fetzer still benefits from rules and laws that enable him to shield nearly all of his assets from that $1.1 million judgment.

This double standard is representative of a larger wave of duplicity among right-wing firebrands. They wring their hands and gnash their teeth at the alleged erosion of American values. They espouse a supposed love of country and cry for a return to the good old days of law and order. But they are the first to cry foul when held to account for their flagrant violations of those very laws and rules.

Freedom of speech is treasured in America, but even fundamental rights come with limitations. Speech is protected, for instance, but it is illegal to threaten to assassinate the president. Weve enacted laws that make it a crime to shoot another person you may think wronged you in some way. We attempt to protect the greater public by outlawing drunk driving, mandating seatbelt use, and gasp! wearing masks in the face of a global pandemic. Some people, no matter the evidence, refuse to recognize or comply with these social pacts. And nothing does more to both communicate these false narratives or shield those who propagate them from even so much as the public shame that ought to attach to spreading such hurtful lies than the internet.

The American court system is uniquely positioned to address the demonstrably false, harmful speech propagated and spread through a largely unregulated internet like a viral alt-right opium. We have rules in place that dictate what behavior or speech is legally acceptable, and a process by which we can legally prove certain speech to be false. Our juries determine the cost associated with illegal, harmful speech. And today, where the majority of people understand on some level that we are fundamentally connected to and impacted by the actions of others, pursuing people who wish to take advantage of the benefits of our legal system while simultaneously and intentionally attempting to avoid legal obligations imposed by that system is critical.

From election results to international influence on our political system, the truth matters and is at risk now more than ever. I applaud the lawyers in Texas who have taken on this righteous battle, and look forward to hearing what the jury decides are the damages Alex Jones rightfully owes. Nothing short of our democracy depends on it.

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I know what conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones are like. Ive taken one on in court - The Independent

The additional show of force comes as Washington remains on high alert, taking no chances ahead of Saturdays rally in support of Capitol riot defendants.

WASHINGTON Online threats from the alt-right to take a stand Friday, ahead of this weekends Justice for J6 rally, will lead to more U.S. Capitol and Metropolitan police officers on duty around the Capitol complex tomorrow, according to officers from both departments and sources directly familiar with the matter.

The additional show of force comes as Washington remains on high alert, taking no chances before Saturdays rally in support of Capitol riot defendants. U.S. Capitol Police shifts will be extended Friday, with Metropolitan Police supporting the force.

The Friday threat and mobilization have not been previously reported.

Crews quickly reconstructed the inner perimeter of 8-ft. high fencing around much of the Capitol Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, after the Capitol Police Board voted to return the security measure for the weekend rally.

Law enforcement expect approximately 700 people to attend the gathering starting at noon Saturday, with organizers from the alt-right demanding the release of jailed January 6 defendants. Matt Braynard, a former 2016 Trump campaign official, has called the defendants, political prisoners, and the insurrection a fiction contrived by the left.

WUSA9 first reported in August that Metropolitan Police will be fully activated Saturday, meaning, all days off are canceled, and all sworn members of the department will be working. The Capitol Police will also have an all hands on deck approach, Chief J. Thomas Manger confirmed to members of Congress earlier this week.

USCP contacted Maryland State Police asking for assistance ahead of the rally. MSP said they plan to provide troopers from the Special Operations Division / Mobile Field Force, who will assist with crowd control-related duties and remain on alert for any civil disturbances, according to a statement released by MSP Friday.

Braynard announced the September gathering on Steve Bannons podcast, issuing a clarion call for his followers to seek justice for Jan. 6 defendants.

As we continue to raise the profile of these individuals, it makes it harder and harder for the lefts phony narrative about an insurrection to stick, Braynard said on Bannons podcast released July 30. Whats going to define [the rally] is where its going to take place: were going back to the Capitol.

In a YouTube video, Braynard specifically asked rally attendees not to bring signs re-litigating the 2020 election, including visible markers of support for specific political candidates.

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New Capitol threat leads to greater show of force, more officers on duty Friday, ahead of Justice for J6 rally - WUSA9.com

At the height of last years Black Lives Matter uprising, a recording surfaced of a call President Trump held with state governors. In it, he made a comparison: This is like Occupy Wall Street. He urged them to waste no time in repeating the coordinated police assaults that had swept away the Occupy encampments across the country. Until the Occupy crackdown began, he told the governors, It was a disaster.

Trumps political career had a kind of origin story in Occupy Wall Street, which began in Zuccotti Park 10 years ago today. In early 2012, his eventual campaign chief and White House adviser Steve Bannon was directing a take-down film on the movement, featuring blogger and provocateur Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart suddenly died during production and Bannon took control of Breitbarts company, which he turned into the platform of the alt-right that would help land Trump in the presidency. For Bannon, as with Trump on his call with the governors, Occupy revealed an enemy that required conservatives to take off their gloves, dispense with civility, and fight for their version of civilization.

The reactionary response happened worldwide. Occupy Wall Street was part of a global movement in 2011 that spread from Tunisia and Egypt, across the Middle East, and through southern Europe. It took until autumn for what began as the Arab Spring to arrive in lower Manhattan. In New York, were still the baby movement in the world, I heard organizer Marina Sitrin tell an audience at an anarchist social center in Athens, Greece, at the time. From there it ricocheted even further, in cities and towns throughout the United States, and from London and New Zealand to Nigeria.

Wherever it appeared, the 2011 movement had in common two things: the tactic of occupying public spaces for days and weeks at a time, and the goal of unseating unjust accretions of power. Taken together, that time, space, and rebellion led to another common feature: radical experiments with what a truly accountable democracy might look like. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and buoyed by the rise of the internet, democracy was due for a reboot.

I am not sure there was as much cohesion to the opposition these uprisings faced, from Bannons media blitz to Bashar al-Assads airstrikes. On the 10-year anniversary of Occupy, though, it is the opposition that haunts me most. I wrote a whole book trying to figure out whether Occupy Wall Street was a success or failure. But 10 years on, I think the question is a distraction. Looming over anything protesters did, now, is the enormity of the crackdown that followed.

In 2011, before they were war-zones, Yemen, Libya, and Syria had nonviolent protests against intransigent regimes. The regimes struck back brutally. These nightmares began with outbreaks of hope. That hope was intolerable. Millions of people have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands killed, as a result.

In Europe, protesters did what many U.S. pundits told Occupy to do: Get into the system, elect politicians. Protest-aligned parties took national power in Greece and Spain. But the central European banks clung harder to austerity policies that put housing and decent work out of reach for a generation of young people. This wasnt as bloody as the crackdowns in the Arab world, but it had perverse effects. When the politics of providing for people who had been deprived became untenable, right-wing movements arose to blame the symptoms of austerity policies on refugees arriving from the Syrian crackdown.

In the United States, well, we eventually got President Trump, the inconvenienced owner of the building at 40 Wall Street. (I recall the drugstore on its bottom floor being a popular escape route from police.) He came to power mimicking some of Occupys messaging about economic injustice and the power of the political elite, but with a different answer: decrying immigrants, denying climate change, and I alone can fix it. Once in office, his policies gave handouts to the rich. His rhetoric deepened the divisions among the 99 percent and eroded democratic norms once easy to take for granted.

The right-wing reaction to Occupy and its related movements has been so all-consuming that its hard to remember the feeling of 2011, when it seemed like a deeper kind of democracy was on the rise. Protesters everywhere tried out radical forms of self-governance in their camps, inspired by the texture of online networks. Rather than making demands of politicians, they debated how to make politicians obsolete. Whatever ideology any individual held, together they were anarchists, in the sense of trying to root out hierarchy wherever it appeared. Egyptian Google employee Wael Ghonim created the Facebook page that brought thousands to the streets in Cairo, but he refused the mantle of leadership, calling the movement leaderless. A document passed by Occupy Wall Streets consensus-based mass assembly described its participants as autonomous political beings who were engaging in direct and transparent participatory democracy.

When celebrities visited Occupy Wall Street to offer support, debates broke out about whether they should be allowed to speak or have any special treatment. Occupiers challenged each other to check your privilege, to become ever more vigilant to how inequalities of power and wealth distort the practice of equality.There was a time when the open-source website for the Occupy Wall Street assembly was a beautiful machine, publishing up-to-the-minute news and discussion and proposals a glimpse of politics moving with the speed and interactivity of the internet. If technology can aggregate peoples input instantly, why should we need a government designed for the time of horse and buggy?

Approximations of Occupys organizational details would appear on the news, recounted by perplexed reporters. For a while, the old protest chant, often repeated then, seemed true: The whole world is watching. Occupiers would talk with a straight face about the number of days or weeks it would be until a revolution came, like the ones in Egypt and Tunisia earlier that year.

The movements of 2011 put a lot of trust in social media and viral messaging, whose strength couldnt outlast the raw, old-fashioned kinds of power they were up against. Before long in Egypt and perhaps now Tunisia the democratic revolution turned into a new dictatorship. Authoritarians have taken power from Brazil to Belarus, while deepening their hold in China and Russia. On January 6th, the United States saw an attempted coup on behalf of a billionaire, the landlord of a Wall Street office tower who represents capitalist decadence like no other. Wealth inequality, it goes without saying, has only grown worse.

Now a decade older, many of those same activists are on the defensive, trying to protect what remnants of 18th century democracy we have left. Veterans of Occupy are campaigning for candidates and making policy demands, attempting to secure a more humane republicanism. They have helped organize a surge of economic populism, as well as calls for climate justice, defunding police, and canceling student debt. They learned from Occupys early failure to center racial justice and embraced Black Lives Matter. Onetime protesters have helped lead a revival of the solidarity economy, trying to inscribe democracy into daily economic life. They have backed the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Some hold positions of relative power; others are still living on the street. Some have developed software, like Pol.is, Action Network, and Loomio, that continue democratic experiments from Occupy in code. But when police destroyed the occupations, they buried the most radical features of what the anthropologist-organizer David Graeber called the democracy project.

Perhaps the protests were too utopian, not pragmatic enough, and had some things backward. But I am not interested in fixating on what the young and impatient Occupiers should have done instead. There is no simple formula for what makes social movements effective, for how to back up their numbers and networks with the power to make lasting change. But too often the focus has been on what the 2011 activists did or didnt do, rather than the reaction they awakened. Too rarely do we mourn all the hopeful visions forgotten when a phalanx of police comes to restore order.

The fact is that when a global, unarmed movement called for a democracy worthy of the 21st century, the response from those in power was no, with all the cruelty they thought they could afford. The crackdown isnt even over. Wars that began in 2011 are still raging in Syria and Yemen, and elected authoritarians are still consolidating power. Trumps favorite dictator, Egypts Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has made the crackdown a way of life. They are not done.

Democracy must be rediscovered in every generation or it withers. It must evolve with what people long for. In the early planning meetings for Occupy Wall Street, I witnessed organizers shift from making a mere demand of the system to making a space for that rediscovery to begin. I was there the night their insurgent village was torn down. That place was far from perfect, but the condition of democracy in the years since only shows how much we needed the rowdy experiments happening there.

The reaction against the movements of 2011 has demonstrated how dangerous real democracy can seem to those who gain from its decline. The consequences are everywhere around us. So much of the mess of the world right now happened because, for some, the noise of democracy was unbearable. In the decade to come, that noise needs to grow louder.

Nathan Schneider is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the author of, among other books, Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse.

Read more:
The Real Story of Occupy Wall Street Is Whats Happened Since - Rolling Stone

Officer Dunn will soon be on the front lines yet again: hell be in defense mode at the upcoming Justice for J6 rally: Saturday's alt-right protest at the Capitol.

WASHINGTON While U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn defended the Capitol against rioters in January, in the midst of the Capitol insurrection, he was forced to face repeated physical and verbal assault. Although he was able to make it out alive, he didnt go home that day without the sting caused by demeaning racially charged slurs.

Soon, Officer Dunn will be on the front lines yet again: hell be in defense mode at the upcoming Justice for J6 rally. The Saturday, alt-right protest at the Capitol is scheduled for 12 p.m. around the Union Square area, close by the reflection pool.

More than 250 days after the Capitol insurrection, law enforcement across the District are steadily preparing for the return of the alt-right. The Metropolitan Police Department has activated the entire force on Saturday and even postponed vacation days. The U.S. Sergeant at Arms announced Tuesday that, unless required to be onsite, members and staff are strongly encouraged to avoid the U.S. Capitol Complex on Sept. 18 as well

WUSA9s Mike Valerio sat down with Officer Dunn, a Prince Georges County native, to hear more about his path towards healing and his mission to continue to defend.

In July, Dunn gave testimony before the House Select Committee, that helped paint the picture of the ongoing sadness, pain and at times, rage of the men and women who stood against thousands of insurrectionists on Jan. 6.

Officer Dunn and the three others who testified spoke for more than three hours about the violent assaults, xenophobic insults and lingering injuries they suffered.

Now, months later, the effects can still be felt.

Theres not a specific formula to heal; you take it day-by-day, Dunn shared of his experience. And you don't necessarily look at, you know, I'm not gonna be good by this day.' . . . Day-by-day is how you take it. And I noticed, gradually, I'm starting to get better.

Dunn added that therapy is one process that has helped him a great deal. But, he adds, the pressure hasn't ceased.

Just last month, Capitol Police spent five hours negotiating with a man after he pulled up on the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress claiming to have explosives. The impending "Justice for J6" rally continues to loom large. And certainly, the few colleagues who have paid the ultimate price: the four who have now died by suicide.

Dunn said hes unsure when asked if he believes he continues to suffer in silence.

I don't know. That's the thing. You don't know. You never know, what people are going through unless they tell you.

He tells us that, for now, his focus is on the coming weekend.

Dunn said he feels confident in the new leadership that will be spearheading the efforts on Saturday, including a new chief, Thomas Manger and Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker. I'm encouraged that the people in charge are gonna put us in the best position to be successful, he said. He also supports the re-installing of the Capitol fence for the event, for the extra layer of protection it provides.

Dunn admitted to having some fear for what may unfold on Saturday. But, he said, that wont keep him away. [Its] not enough to deter me from showing up and doing my job.

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'You take it day-by-day' | Assaulted USCP Officer Harry Dunn talks healing after Jan. 6, preparation for Saturday alt-right rally - WUSA9.com

Canadas snap election has increasingly featured threats of violence against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Though not the only leader to be harassed, Trudeaus campaign stops in recent weeks have been disrupted by small, hostile, mostly white crowds one protester was charged with throwing gravel at Trudeau during a campaign appearance.

Outside of Canada, people might be surprised to hear about the anger directed at a politician known internationally as a youthful, charming, energetic progressive. But our research into Canadian memes has found a persistent, visceral dislike of Trudeau among many right-wing online communities.

In Canada, Trudeaus a polarizing figure online, people either love or immensely dislike him.

Trudeau, the son of famed former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau who enjoyed a similar international celebrity, ushered in another bout of Trudeaumania when he won his first election in 2015. That campaign was defined by a focus on sunny ways and Instagram style as part of a progressive reset after years of Conservative rule.

Trudeaumania 2.0 was real, another example of how closely linked celebrity and political culture can sometimes be.

Two years later, Trudeaumania had largely dissipated, though it never existed among right-wing groups. In 2017, a friend shared a post from Ontario Proud, part of Canada Proud, a popular Facebook page run by a right-of-centre media strategist. It was a cartoon that originated on an alt-right sub-Reddit suggesting Trudeau has betrayed white, wounded male veterans.

The Islamic crescent on Trudeaus socks is perhaps a conspiratorial explanation of the false belief that Trudeau paid out to Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who at the age of 15 was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for 10 years for the wartime killing of a U.S. army sergeant in Afghanistan. This allegation ignores the violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that led to a $10.5 million court settlement with Khadr.

Accusations that Trudeau has betrayed Canada was a common theme as we began studying grassroots Facebook pages in 2019, another election year. We found no Trudeau meme pages celebrating the leader.

Instead, we watched anti-Trudeau pages describe him as a traitor who deserved to be treated with contempt.

In another meme, Trudeaus name had been reduced to Turd.

These right-wing groups had a distinct reaction to the blackface scandals that erupted during the 2019 campaign. They believed, as did some mainstream commentators, that the prime ministers past behaviour symbolized Liberal hypocrisy, accusing him of a performative and superficial embrace of equality and social justice.

The blackface, however, seemed to matter less to right-wing groups than framing Trudeau as a sexual predator. They uncovered proof of Trudeaus alleged lecherous conduct at past schools and targeted the placement of his hands in a photo from a 2001 Bollywood gala.

Memes became evidence collages designed to prove Trudeaus past sexual misconduct and used to negatively taint his contemporary image.

Trudeau was a sex symbol, alright, but the worst kind, according to these groups. Trudeau denied the allegations and apologized for one incident though he said he had no memory of it. But the claims had made their mark in these communities and further soured their adherents on the Liberal leader.

The COVID-19 pandemic offered these groups further cause to feel betrayed by Trudeau.

Pandemic lockdowns, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports and disruptions to businesses offered new ways to interpret Trudeaus arrogance and betrayal. The reaction wasnt exceptional most countries in the world are dealing with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers but rather the continuation of anti-Trudeau attitudes that regard him as an incompetent leader who is not to be trusted, whether with women or with the economy.

Our observations show a darker side to Trudeaus celebrity status. As much as Trudeau may be regarded as a likeable person by many Canadians and international observers, hes disliked by right-wing groups for perhaps similar reasons: hes a rich, entitled white man in a position of privilege and power who they view as betraying what they often call old-stock Canadians.

This may explain Trudeaus niche unpopularity online and the white, angry crowds appearing at his rallies.

As journalist Fatima Syed writes, these largely white groups of protesters that have followed Trudeau have an unfair privilege that has been afforded to them by all aspects of society: they largely get away with their hateful rhetoric and actions, and dont get called out or punished for it.

That privilege might also explain a media blind spot. There is a multitude of right-wing rage online, and as a society, Canada needs to urgently make sense of the racial and cultural power dynamics that are underlying angry and hateful discourse.

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From sunny ways to pelted with stones: Why do some Canadians hate Justin Trudeau? - The Conversation AU