Research & Analysis

February 13, 2020 Last month, the Trump Administration proposed sweeping changes to federal rules governing taxpayer-funded social services, changes that threaten the religious freedom of the most vulnerable in our nation. Over 20 years ago, the federal government made a sea change in how it provided taxpayer-funded social services by allowing houses of worship to compete for grants and contracts through a program called the “Faith-Based Initiative.”  This change…

February 11, 2020 Click here to view a PDF version of this blog. ADL’s Center on Extremism tracked an ever-growing number of white supremacist propaganda efforts in 2019, including the distribution of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners and posters. The 2019 data shows an increase of incidents both on and off campus, with a total of 2,713 cases reported (averaging more than seven incidents per day), compared to 1,214 in 2018 – a doubling in activity…

February 11, 2020 On February 10, 2020, U.S. Army Specialist Jarrett William Smith pleaded guilty to unlawfully distributing instructions for making explosive devices over social media. According to the Department of Justice announcement, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.  Smith was associated with the neo-Nazi organization Feuerkrieg Division at the time of his arrest. The ADL's…

January 23, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Three men linked to The Base – a violent white supremacist group – were arrested in Maryland and Delaware on federal felony charges after plotting to kill pro-gun control protesters at a Virginia rally in hopes of starting a race war. The anti-Semitic and conspiracy-promoting “news” outlet TruNews was once again granted White House press credentials, this time to cover the World Economic Forum in Davos. U.S. officials, 50 world…

January 16, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 With the assistance of ADL’s Center on Extremism, an alleged neo-Nazi was arrested on Friday for his apparent role in a nationwide swatting campaign. In testimony before a House subcommittee, ADL’s CEO urged Congress to take action to curb online hate speech, if the social media companies continue to fail to do so. In an effort to label Democrats as sympathetic toward Iran, President Trump retweeted an Islamophobic and doctored image of…

January 16, 2020 In recent years, deadly white supremacist violence at houses of worship in Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and Poway demonstrated the clear line from violent hate speech and radicalization online to in-person violence. With perpetrators of horrific violence taking inspiration from online forums, leveraging the anonymity and connectivity of the internet, and developing sophisticated strategies to spread their messages, the stakes couldn’t be higher in tackling online extremism…

January 13, 2020 UPDATE: On March 15, 2021, John William Kirby Kelley was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in numerous swatting attacks targeting journalists, a Virginia university, a historic predominantly Black church in Virginia, an Islamic Center in Arlington, Texas, and a former U.S. Cabinet member. On January 10, 2020, federal authorities arrested 19-year-old John William Kirby Kelley of Vienna, Virginia, for his alleged role in a multi…

January 08, 2020 The concept of “race war” is gaining popularity among white supremacists. In July, 2019, police officers responding to a racist graffiti incident in Baltimore County, Maryland, encountered swastikas, as well as a phrase new to them: “Race War Now.” In New York, the DMV canceled a Queens resident’s vanity license plate in November 2018; the plate read “GTKRWN,” an acronym for “Gas the Kikes, Race War Now.” In Washington…

December 30, 2019 A Hanukkah party on December 28, 2019 in Monsey, New York, was shattered when a man entered a local rabbi’s home armed with a large knife and began stabbing people. The attack left five injured, one critically. The following day, police in Ramapo, New York, charged Grafton Thomas of Greenwood Lake, New York, with five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Thomas pleaded not guilty at his December 29 arraignment. On Monday, December 30,…

December 13, 2019 On December 10, 2019, David N. Anderson and Francine Graham allegedly shot and killed Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals after he approached them in the Bayview cemetery. The perpetrators then drove through Jersey City, bypassing other buildings and pedestrians before stopping outside the JC Kosher Supermarket, where Graham allegedly fired shots into the establishment, killing three civilians inside the store and injuring another. The pair then barricaded themselves…

December 13, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 Two gunmen motivated by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs attacked a Kosher supermarket in Jersey City on Tuesday, killing four people. President Trump signed an executive order that would ensure incidents of anti-Semitism be treated under federal as vigorously as other forms of discrimination. West Virginia fired three state employees and suspended more than 30 others after a photo surfaced showing a recent graduating class of correctional…

December 02, 2019 Telegram, the online social networking app, may not be a household name in the U.S. like Twitter or Facebook, but with well over 200 million users, it has a significant audience. And it is gaining popularity. Telegram has become a very popular online gathering place for the international white supremacist community and other extremist groups who have been displaced or banned from more popular sites. The platform, which is a cloud-based chat and group messaging app,…

November 08, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 An avowed white supremacist in Colorado was arrested after federal investigators uncovered a plot to bomb an historic synagogue. Campus officials at East Tennessee University are opening an investigation after signs saying “It’s okay to be white”— a popular white supremacist slogan — appeared around campus. A man in Milwaukee is facing felony hate-crime charges for allegedly throwing acid on a Latino man because of his…

November 06, 2019 “Pills” feature prominently in the online chat rooms and forums dedicated to right-wing extremism. These are not actual pharmaceuticals; instead, each “pill” sends a message about a person’s level of dedication to an extremist ideology or cause. Are they just beginning to learn about an ideology, or have they progressed further to embrace a nihilistic, potentially violent mindset? While online posts about “pills” can help outside…

November 05, 2019 Update: February 26, 2021: A federal court sentenced Richard Holzer to 19.5 years in prison.  Update: October 15, 2020:  The Justice Department announced that Richard Holzer, 28, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and explosives charges for plotting to blow up the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. According to a DOJ press release, Holzer faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the hate crime charge…