Reason and Justice
  • Seek the Truth
  • Who We Are
  • Get In Touch
  • Contribute
  • Seek the Truth
  • Who We Are
  • Get In Touch
  • Contribute



Background on the stories that make national news

​
   

Why has government been instituted at all? ​Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.
   ~ ​Alexander Hamilton









​
Photo by Andrew Horne

"Blacks for Trump" - Recurring Character at Campaign Rallies

8/23/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo: Victoria Walker/Washington Post
In February I wrote about the "Blacks for Trump" phenomenon. At the time I thought President Trump's advance team had not vetted their audience properly. It turns out the fringe group, which appears to be one person who calls himself Michael the Black Man. According to the Washington Post, he used to be called Maurice Woodside, also known as Michael Symonette. It turns out that having him sit behind Trump at rallies is a feature, not a bug - he appeared prominently behind Trump at his rally Tuesday night in Phoenix.

I wrote a post about him and his interesting - and disturbing - history in February.

http://www.reasonandjustice.com/seek-the-truth/trump-rally-promotes-fringe-conspiracy-group-advance-team-should-have-known-better
The Daily Mail published an article today about Michael, also known as Maurice. 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4818038/Blacks-Trump-man-seen-Phoenix-ex-cultist.html
0 Comments

Inside the Hate Groups That Rallied in Charlottesville - Part I: Christopher Cantwell

8/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Photo: Evelyn Hockstein, Washington Post
Picture
Elle Reeve, Vice News Tonight correspondent, went behind the scenes with figures in the rising Nazi movement as they staged a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that left one woman dead and 19 people injured.

The harrowing footage shows the Friday evening rally at which participants chanted “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and soil,” explicitly reminiscent of Nazi slogans shouted in support of the Third Reich in 1930’s Germany.


One leader of a group of attendees, Christopher Cantwell, stated that he became a racial activist as a result of the deaths of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center lists him as an “unapologetic fascist” who hosts a live-streamed Internet show and advocates the formation of a white state.


Since the rally Cantwell, who lives in New Hampshire and is a former drug dealer, has been charged with unspecified crimes in Charlottesville.
The Washington Post reports that he has obtained a lawyer, and planned to turn himself in as of Thursday, August 17.
​

Reeve, in an interview with WBUR Boston’s radio show Here and Now,  points out that the men she spoke with are preoccupied with sex:

"I think something people are reluctant to point out is how focused this movement is on sex, particularly white women, who gets to have sex with white women. They think that the media inundates people with messages that women should sleep with minorities instead of white men, that white men are goofy, are doofuses. There's this sitcom dad stereotype of the hapless white male. And so, they're very focused on reproduction and creating more Aryan babies."


She explains that the leaders of the white supremacy movement want to appear mainstream:


“[It’s] an intentional strategy, they want to look like successful, good-looking, fit people, they have told me that explicitly. I think it's really important to show exactly what they believe, that this is not just being anti-[politically correct], or angering the scolding, liberal, feminist teachers. They believe really terrible things, and in order to fight their arguments, we have to know what they are."

After the weekend in Charlottesville, Cantwell posted a video of himself tearfully explaining that he had heard there was a warrant out for his arrest. The video is included in the Washington Post article. 

The
Here and Now interview with Elle Reeve, the journalist who followed Christopher Cantwell’s group as they attended the Charlottesville rally, can be found here.

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/08/17/vice-reporter-charlottesville-rally

The
Vice video, “Charlottesville: Race and Terror,” can be found here.

https://news.vice.com/story/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror

The
Washington Post article about the aftermath of Cantwell’s participation in the events at Charlottesville can be found here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/08/18/the-rise-and-humiliating-fall-of-charlottesvilles-starring-fascist/?utm_term=.154349b9e1d1

The profile of Christopher Cantwell from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which provides additional background about Cantwell’s violent history, can be found here.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/christopher-cantwell
0 Comments

Mueller Has Impaneled A Grand Jury in Washington, D.C.

8/3/2017

0 Comments

 
Photo Source: Politifact
Picture
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Kremlin interference in the 2016 elections. This is a second grand jury related to the Trump campaign - a grand jury investigating former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s paid work on behalf of the Turkish government has been meeting for some time.

The article from The Wall Street Journal can be found here.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-mueller-impanels-washington-grand-jury-in-russia-probe-1501788287

The Washington Post reported today that the second grand jury, which has broad authority to investigate financial records, has been meeting for several weeks.

From The Washington Post:
“Mueller’s investigation now includes a look at whether President Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James B. Comey, as well as deep dives into financial and other dealings of former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Federal prosecutors had previously been using a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, and even before Mueller was appointed, had increased their activity, issuing subpoenas and taking other investigative steps.”

The article from the Washington Post describing the grand jury can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/special-counsel-mueller-using-grand-jury-in-federal-court-in-washington-as-part-of-russia-investigation/2017/08/03/1585da56-7887-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?utm_term=.374800ebef61

What Is A Grand Jury?
According to an article in USA Today, “a grand jury is a group of citizens who gather to hear evidence in secret to determine whether there is probable cause to prosecute someone. The secrecy surrounding its deliberations is meant to protect innocent people from unfounded charges, per the American Bar Association.”

Two USA Today articles explaining today’s report and giving information about grand juries can be found here.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/03/special-counsel-robert-mueller-impanels-grand-jury-russia-investigation-intensifies-reports-say/537839001/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/08/03/what-is-a-grand-jury/537804001/

Law.com states that a federal grand jury traditionally has 23 members, either appointed or drawn from a pool of nominees, and they have two potential responsibilities:
  • To hear evidence of criminal accusations in possible felonies by the federal prosecutor and to decide whether the accused should be indicted and tried for a crime
  • To hear evidence of potential public wrong-doing by public officials, including acts which may not be crimes but are imprudent, ineffective or inefficient, and to make recommendations

What Is The Magnitsky Act?
CNN reported today that Mueller’s team has subpoenaed both documents and testimony related to Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with representatives of the Russian government regarding damaging information on Hillary Clinton and discussions of lifting the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act, is a bipartisan piece of legislation enacted into law in 2013, which freezes assets of 44 Russianm officials responsible for the death of Sergey Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer investigating corruption, in a Moscow prison in 2009.


The CNN report can be found here.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/mueller-grand-jury/index.html

A Washington Post article with more information about the Magnitsky Act can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/14/the-magnitsky-act-explained/?utm_term=.25ea5fc94cfa

An Atlantic article about the Magnitsky Act can be found here.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/07/magnitsky-act-kremlin/535044/


0 Comments
    Truth is a real thing.

    Archives

    November 2019
    January 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    Categories

    All
    2016 Election
    Aleksander Kogan
    Alpha Omega Winery
    Backchannel
    Bots
    Breitbart
    Cambridge Analytica
    Charlottesville
    Cozy Bear
    Department Of Justice
    Devin Nunes
    Donald Trump
    Don McGahn
    Dutch Intelligence
    Facebook
    Fact-checking Trump
    Fancy Bear
    FISA
    Fusion GPS
    Gates
    Glenn Simpson
    Global Warminig
    Gregory Kennedy
    GRU
    Gun Rights Rally
    Haiti
    Hate Groups
    Helskinki
    House Intelligence
    House Of Representatives
    Hurricane Maria
    Indicment
    Internet Research Agency
    James Comey
    Jared Kushner
    Jefferson Beauregard Sessions
    Justice Kennedy
    Justin Kennedy
    King Abdullah II
    Magnitsky Act
    Manafort
    Mariia Butina
    Mark Zuckerberg
    Mercer
    Michael Avenatti
    Michael Cohen
    Michael Flynn
    Mogilevich
    Money Laundering
    Mueller Investigation
    National Rifle Association
    Nuclear Deal
    Obstruction Of Justice
    Oleg Deripaska
    Organized Crime
    Papadopoulos
    President Trump
    Puerto Rico
    Reince Priebus
    Renaissance Technologies
    Rod Rosenstein
    Russian Interference
    Russian Trolls
    Ryan Zinke
    Senate Intelligence
    Senate Judiciary
    Senator Feinstein
    Social Media
    Steve Bannon
    Stormy Daniels
    Supreme Court
    Torshin
    Treasury Department
    Trolls
    Trump Jupiter National Golf Club
    Trump Lawsuit
    Trump Organization
    Trump-Putin
    Trump Transition
    Turkey
    Twitter
    U.S. Treasury Department
    Whitefish
    White Supremacy

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly