O ne night in 2021, Sharonda Johnson had a dream. A figure was standing over a baby’s bassinet. She couldn’t tell what it was, but she sensed this figure emanating overwhelming dread. “I remember saying to myself, ‘I don’t know how anyone can fight this,’” she says. Sharonda woke up …
Read More »'Ready for Civil War': Illinois Man Arrested With Bombs Posted Right-Wing Content
This story is being published in partnership with American Doom, a newsletter that focuses on right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy. Just after 3 a.m. last Friday, in a small Central Illinois city infamous in the area for being a former sundowner town, a Pekin police officer pulled over …
Read More »Twitter Hate Speech Accounts Exploited Israel's War in Gaza to Grow Four Times Faster
Last month, a judge tossed a lawsuit from Elon Musk‘s X (formerly Twitter) against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an anti-extremism watchdog, that alleged the group had financially harmed the company by reporting on violent and hateful speech proliferating across its platform. The ruling stated in no uncertain terms …
Read More »FBI Gate Crash Suspect Loved Trump and Pushed QAnon on Social Media: Report
The South Carolina man arrested after barreling his car through the FBI‘s front gate in Atlanta on Monday has a long history of far-right posts on social media — and he even wrote “I love you” to Donald Trump, according to new research. Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that …
Read More »Right-Wingers Are Already Pushing Conspiracy Theories About Baltimore Bridge Collapse
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after a 948-foot-long container ship collided with it early Tuesday. Stunning video of the incident has circulated online, and search-and-rescue procedures are currently underway. “This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Baltimore’s Democratic mayor, Brandon Scott, said at a press conference. “We have to …
Read More »Right-Wingers Push Absurd Lie About Haitian Cannibal Invasion
In their long-running quest to sow xenophobia among the American populace, some on the far right have accused migrants of every imaginable crime. Donald Trump declared them rapists and falsely claimed that the violent street gang MS-13 was invading the country on a massive scale. GOP legislators have argued, with …
Read More »She Took to the Internet to Mourn Her Baby's Death. People Blamed Her Instead
For the first three days after Veruca Salt brought her baby son Cash home from the hospital, she couldn’t sleep. She just couldn’t stop staring at him. “[At first] I was so scared to just be alone with him. I have this baby, and I didn’t have to do a …
Read More »Huckster Behind 'Willy Wonka' Event Also Sells AI-Written Vaccine Conspiracy Books
Parents are furious at a man who charged them as much as £35 (around $44) per ticket for a Willy Wonka-themed family event in Glasgow, Scotland, this weekend. That’s because the “immersive” experience sold to them by a sketchy company called House of Illuminati turned out to be little more …
Read More »'American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders' Examines Journalist's Tragic Death, Perils of Sleuthing
Obsession works like an addiction. You feed it and feed it, falling down rabbit holes, pursuing your prey with single-minded intensity. You chase the dragon, until you are indistinguishable from the beast itself and the rest of the world slowly becomes a blurry background. The new Netflix docuseries American Conspiracy: …
Read More »Right-Wingers Say Super Bowl Is Rigged So Taylor Swift Can Endorse Biden
Taylor Swift has shattered virtually every major record in the music industry, and as she lives her best life supporting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, she’s also breaking the brains of right-wingers. For months now, the digital fever swamps have been fuming over everything and anything …
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