#WW3.0

Images of war: 2-weeks of brutal fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan left hundreds dead before ceasefire declared
Sophia Ankel and Naina Bhardwaj
11 hours ago

An ethnic Armenian soldier fires an artillery piece during fighting with Azerbaijan's forces in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, September 29, 2020. Defense Ministry of Armenia/via REUTERS

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire starting on Saturday, two weeks after brutal clashes killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.

A decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan re-ignited on September 27 with both sides fighting for control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

It marked the biggest escalation since the 1990s and involves heavy artillery, warplanes, and drones.e region during this time of conflict.

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire starting on Saturday after two weeks of brutal fighting that killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more.

The deal agreed in Moscow did not make a clear how long the ceasefire was due to hold for and there were reports of continued fighting in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, according to Reuters.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled in a decades-long conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies in Azerbaijan but its 140,000 population is mostly ethnic Armenians and it has been under the control of Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

The recent clashes marked the biggest escalation since the 1990s.

Scroll down to see 13 photos of what happened in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a ceasefire starting on Saturday after two weeks of fighting for control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Black smoke rises near buildings during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on October 4, 2020. Reuters

Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the region started up on September 27.

Source: Independent

Nagorno-Karabakh is a remote mountainous region within Azerbaijan which has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces for over fifteen years after becoming autonomous during the Soviet era.

Nagorno-Karabakh is located in the Caucasus, a mountainous region jammed between Turkey, Russia, and Iran. Google Maps

For centuries, both Christians and Muslims, have fought for power over Nagorno-Karabakh.

While the majority of people from Azerbaijan are Muslim, Nagorno-Karabakh's 140,000 inhabitants are Armenian and ethnically Christian.

Sources: BBC, The Guardian

In the last two weeks, the fighting in the region has started up once again after Azerbaijani forces attempted to recapture territories occupied by Armenia.

A photo released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry shows a man, said to be a civilian, from Nagorno-Karabakh receiving medical treatment on September 27, 2020. Reuters

Both sides have been accusing each other of expanding the hostilities beyond Nagorno-Karabakh and targeting civilians.

Source: LA Times

Heavy artillery, tanks, missiles, and drones were also involved for the first time in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

A sapper works next to an unexploded BM-30 Smerch rocket allegedly fired by Armenian forces near the Mingachevir Hydro Power Station in the town of Mingachevir, Azerbaijan, on October 5, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer

Both sides have been accused of also using cluster bombs, which have been banned under the convention on cluster munitions (CCM).

Cluster bombs are particularly dangerous because they can fail to explode on impact, meaning they can pose a threat to civilians long after conflicts have ended.

Source: The Guardian

This was the first time since the 1990s that populated areas in Nagorno-Karabakh were hit by missile strikes.

Man looks down at the rubble from his destroyed home in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 7, 2020. Getty

An official from Nagorno-Karabakh said earlier this week that the shelling has resulted in thousands of people being displaced from their homes.

"According to our preliminary estimates, some 50% of Karabakh's population and 90% of women and children — or some 70,000-75,000 people — have been displaced," they said, according to the Guardian.

Source: The Guardian

Both sides accused each other of deliberately attacking civilian buildings.

Firefighters work as a building in a residential area burns after night shelling on October 3, 2020. AP

Source: AP

Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of shelling a historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh.

A hole made by a shell in the roof of the Holy Savior Cathedral during a military conflict, in Shushi, outside Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, Thursday, October 8, 2020. AP

Azerbaijan however has denied it shelled the cathedral.

"The information about the damage to the church in Shusha has nothing to do with the military actions of the Azerbaijani army," the defense ministry said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

"Unlike the armed forces of Armenia … the Azerbaijani army does not target historical, cultural, or especially religious buildings and monuments," they added.

A group of children was inside the cathedral at the time of the bombing, but they were not wounded, according to local media reports.

"There is no military, nothing strategic here, how can you target a church?" one resident said, according to the Guardian.

Source: Associated Press

The city that was hit the worst was Nagorno-Karabakh's capital Stepanakert, where most residents were left without electricity...

Civilians gather in the basement of a building used as a bomb shelter in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 5, 2020. Areg Balayan/ArmGov/PAN Photo/Handout via Reuters
Source: BBC
...and others were forced to take shelter in basements and bunkers.

People watch the state TV while sleeping in a bomb shelter to protect themselves from shelling in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, on September 28, 2020. AP
Source: BBC
More than 300 people died in the conflict, although casualty claims have not been independently verified.

Firefighters put out a car that is on fire in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh on October 4, 2020. AP Sources: BBC, Al-Jazeera
However, human rights organizations fear that the official death toll on both sides is actually much higher.

Local people take part in a funeral ceremony on October 8, 2020, for an Azerbaijani serviceman who died in action in one of the villages bordering on Nagorno-Karabakh Getty
Source: BBC

After negotiations in Moscow, which were mediated by Russia's foreign minister, both sides agreed to a ceasefire starting on Saturday, at 12 pm local time.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto in the House of the Estates in Helsinki. Reuters

Both sides have been asked to exchange prisoners and bodies of those killed in the conflict.

"Azerbaijan and Armenia begin substantive negotiations with the purpose of achieving a peaceful settlement as soon as possible," Lavrov told reporters, according to the Guardian.

Source: The Guardian

However, within minutes of the ceasefire taking effect, both sides have accused each other of breaking it, raising doubts about how serious the truce will turn out to be.

Local residents take shelter in a dugout in the city of Terter, Azerbaijan on October 6, 2020. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Five minutes after the truce officially took hold, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling one of its settlements, while Karabakh forces alleged that Azeri forces had launched a new offensive.

Source: Reuters

SHAQ O'Neal says he just voted for the first time in his life, after having 'never understood the Electoral College system'

NOONE  DOES IT IS A VESTIGIAL FORM OF RICH WHITE SLAVE OWNERS POWER AND PRIVELEGE OVER THE HOI POLOI

POPULAR POWER  
Barnaby Lane Oct 9, 2020

Shaq says he had never voted until now. Getty/E! Entertainment

Shaquille O'Neal, 48, says he just voted for the first time in his life.

"I've never voted before, America," Shaq said on Wednesday's episode of "The Big Podcast." "This is my first time voting. I promise you."

The NBA icon said he hadn't voted before because he "never understood the Electoral College system."

Shaq didn't reveal who he voted for.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Shaquille O'Neal has won four NBA titles, released a platinum rap album, and even starred as a DC Comics superhero on the silver screen.

But apparently one thing the 48-year-old hadn't done with his life before this year, however, was vote in a presidential election.

That, he says, just changed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession," O'Neal said on Wednesday's episode of "The Big Podcast." "You know I always like being honest on my podcast. I've never voted before, America. But, now I'm doing all these voting campaigns, and you know one thing I never like to do is be a hypocrite."

O'Neal recently teamed up with the Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum to launch the "#MyStartingFive" voting challenge, which is encouraging people to nominate five friends on social media and remind them to vote.

"So the other day, I got my absentee ballot — in other words, America, I voted for the first time, and it feels good," the NBA icon added.

"I'm honest. I've never voted before in my life. This is my first time voting. I promise you."

Asked by the cohost John Kincade why he had waited until 48 to vote for the first time, O'Neal said: "I've never understood the Electoral College system."

"You're going to get buried for this," Kincade said. "I'm glad you voted, though. That's awesome. You were very honest there."

O'Neal did not reveal who he voted for.

Self-funding QAnon candidate gave own campaign $450,000 after getting PPP loan

Igor Derysh, Salon•October 9, 2020

Marjorie Taylor Greene

 Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and Republican candidate who is expected to win her House race in Georgia next month, donated $450,000 to her own campaign after receiving a six-figure Paycheck Protection Program loan from the government for her construction company.

Greene, who has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and posted videos attacking Black people, Muslims and Jews, won the Republican primary in Georgia's 14th congressional district in August despite opposition from Republican leaders. She is almost certain to take over the seat now held by retiring Republican Rep. Tom Graves, especially after her Democratic opponent dropped out of the race last month in a district President Trump carried by 50 points. Trump has since praised Greene as a "future Republican star."

Greene's bid was partially funded by a super PAC allied with the House Freedom Caucus, which has opposed additional funding to provide coronavirus relief to Americans. Greene has opposed additional spending as well, declaring in a Facebook video that "the best stimulus for Americans is allowing Americans to go back to work!"


Despite her opposition to the stimulus funding and the PPP, her family's company, Taylor Commercial, received a six-figure PPP loan worth between $150,000 and $350,000 earlier this year. New York Magazine reported that her name had stopped appearing on the company's registration forms in 2012 but was added back in 2019.

Greene, who had loaned her campaign $900,000, donated $450,000 to her campaign about two months after the PPP loan, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Her main opponent in the Republican primary, neurosurgeon John Cowan, raised questions about the donation during the campaign.

"Earlier this week, you said that you didn't want Congress to pass more COVID-related emergency funds for businesses. But your business took as much as $350,000 in PPP loans from the federal government at the same time you were putting $900,000 into your campaign," Cowan told Greene during a debate in July. "So if you don't need the money and you have the discretionary funds, will you commit to returning that money to the citizens?"

Greene accused Cowan of being "disconnected" from business owners and "people who have struggled during this government shutdown."

"I am appalled at the fact that you cannot comprehend that I have a construction company and we can't do construction remotely at home," she said, not denying that she opposed the very funds that her company drew from.

"Construction companies were considered essential and they didn't shut down," Cowan shot back. "So you were making plenty of money — plus you used $900,000 of your own money during the campaign. Don't you think you had a little extra to pay your employees? I find it disingenuous that you took money from taxpayers to pay for your employees while you were paying yourself."

Spencer Hogg, Cowan's campaign manager, later said in a statement that Greene's company "wasn't one of those facing hardships."

"She says she's a fiscal conservative, she said last week that she opposed additional emergency funding for businesses forced to close because of COVID, but as we've seen on multiple issues, Marjorie doesn't let principle interfere with self-interest," he said in a statement. "If she has enough money to spend nearly $1 million to advance her own political ambitions, then she has enough to pay her employees, particularly in an industry that didn't have to stop working during the lockdown."

Greene's campaign did not respond to questions from Salon.

Greene is not the only Republican candidate who has self-funded a campaign while taking PPP loans.

Former Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., received a PPP loan for one of his companies worth between $150,000 and $350,000 in May, weeks before he loaned his campaign $150,000. Issa, who has a net worth of $280 million to $400 million and was the richest member of Congress between 2000 and 2018, is trying to stage a political comeback by running for the Southern California seat recently vacated by convicted former Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican.

Issa's Democratic opponent ,Ammar Campa-Najjar, called for "millionaires like Darrell Issa" to be banned from collecting PPP loans during a debate last week.

Issa said at the debate that he opposed funding the PPP entirely, arguing it would be "foolhardy" and that "paying people not to work has run its course."

Another California Republican candidate, Michelle Steele, also received a PPP loan worth between $150,000 and $350,000 in April for her family law firm. She donated $500,000 to her campaign in California's 48th congressional district against Rep. Harley Rouda, a Democratic freshman narrowly elected in the 2018 "blue wave."

Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, received PPP loans worth up to $7 million for his auto dealerships before donating $250,000 to his campaign.

Related Article
Trump embraces support from QAnon: They "like me very much" and "love America"

Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog group that tracks recipients of PPP loans, called on all four candidates to return the money to taxpayers.

"The PPP program was meant to save jobs, not bail out business owners looking for a gig in D.C.," spokesman Derek Martin said in a statement to Salon. "These candidates should return this money and tell the president to get back to work on a relief bill that will help all Americans during this pandemic."

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Why would someone plan to abduct the governor of Michigan?

Matthew Walther, The Week•October 10, 2020


"I am an originalist," Antonin Scalia once told an interviewer. "I am a textualist. I am not a nut."

Whatever critics think of the late Supreme Court justice and the school of jurisprudence that has become synonymous with his name, his distinction seems one worth maintaining. There is all the difference in the world between people like Scalia and his followers, who find it absurd that somewhere in the text of an amendment ratified in 1868 there is enshrined an explicit right to conduct then subject to universal moral opprobrium throughout the known world, and others, who believe it is the solemn duty of every American to imitate the Founding Fathers by engaging in armed insurrection against federal and state governments (for such iniquities as the imposition of speed limits). There are, in fact, nuts.

This distinction, between mainstream legal conservatives and dangerous fantasists, is the backdrop against which I think we should attempt to make sense of the alleged plot against Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan. Thank goodness (if the FBI affidavit is any indication), the scheme did not advance much beyond the exchanging of messages in a private Facebook group in which the proportions between genuine members and paid informants were (as they tend to be in such groups) roughly equal. The level of organizational sophistication achieved by these would-be terrorists makes the airport shoe bomber look like Professor Moriarty.

What is interesting about "Wolverine Watchmen," the militia group hitherto unknown to experts on extremism to which the plotters are said to belong, is not so much what they came close to accomplishing but the source of their ideology, which has little to do with the serious objections to Whitmer's policies peacefully voiced by millions of Michiganders. To these "Wolverines," the lockdown and other events of the last year are irrelevant.


To understand this plot (and to see why such things, however unlikely they are to come off, are always taken seriously by investigators), it is important to consider the history of the so-called constitutional militia movement. Robert Churchill rightly begins his fine study of this phenomenon, not in the right-wing fever swamps of the South or the remote west, but in Michigan, the birthplace of the U.A.W., arguably the most moderate state in the union, where in the early 1990s, two Baptist clergymen, Norm Olson and Ray Southwell, vowed to "shake their guns in the tyrant's face."

Unlike many of their contemporaries and successors, Olson and Southwell explicitly rejected the notion that the conflict between ordinary citizens and state and federal government agencies was racial. They disavowed anti-Semitism and worked effortlessly to root out racial, sexual, religious and other forms of bigotry. They were, as only Michigan men can be, revolutionaries who doggedly insisted upon old-fashioned Midwestern politeness. They were also wholly unrepresentative of what would follow, as membership in what became known as the Michigan Militia Corps surged to more than 10,000 in the wake of Ruby Ridge and Waco. Soon apparent instances of government overreach, concerns about privacy, and perceived threats to the Second Amendment would give way to reprints of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, dark hints about the natural subjugation of women, and a restoration of those Darwinian principles which had ensured the survival and flourishing of our species.

That a movement dedicated to right-wing terrorism would trace its origins to rural Michigan is not as strange as if the same had been true of, say, Seattle. We remain one of the most culturally conservative states in the union. We are also, I would argue, though such claims do not easily submit to quantitative evaluation, the most nostalgic of Americans, always hearkening back to our half-understood post-war golden age. But we are also quiet people, interested in common sense and decency for reasons having nothing to do with ideology; we are distrustful of all manner of enthusiasm in politics, including the crude atavistic worldview of the militia, which, even in a state in which gun ownership is both widespread and uncontroversial, never reached anything like a critical mass of support.

This is not to say that it remained wholly invisible to those of us who lived here during the decade in which it was founded. My own childhood in this state was on more than one occasion darkened by the shadow of the militia movement. Between the ages of two and five I lived in what Michiganders call "the Thumb," the vast peninsula north of Detroit. Surrounded by Lake Huron at its edges, the Thumb's interior is mostly empty save for thousands and thousands of acres of farm land and dark scattered forests. It was here in Decker, not far from our house in Cass City, that two brothers active in militia circles were often seen on their own farm in the company of one of their friends. My mother to this day recalls seeing the trio, each man clad in camouflage, leaving the old Kritzman's department store just as she, my sister, and I were entering.

The brothers were known around town and widely disliked. The men who instinctively distrusted the brothers were not cosmopolitan liberals; they were farmers themselves, hunters, many of them hard drinkers inured to violence and clinging in their own way to stubbornly independent views of the world. Most of them hated both the federal government and the big banks that had repossessed so many farms during the previous decade. But they had no patience for the lunatic views of the brothers and most kept their distance. (The rumor was that they were all gay.) Readers of a certain age will have guessed by now that the surname of the brothers was Nichols, and that their friend was Timothy McVeigh.

Fifteen or so years later, after the movement had been in steady decline, I would hear from a former state police officer about what he considered a typical encounter with a militia member during the group's heyday. "Tommy," as I will call him, had been a modestly successful middleweight boxer before becoming a cop in the Upper Peninsula, which makes the Thumb look like I-75 north of Detroit during rush hour. Tommy had heard complaints from a waitress at a bar that a man dressed in camouflage — the military kind, not what you wear for deer hunting — had been making lewd comments whenever he stopped in. He went to the home of the man, who had already made himself a nuisance by handing out anti-government pamphlets and videocassettes, and politely but firmly told him to leave the woman alone. The militia member responded that the waitress was just being coy, that she really welcomed his advances, and indeed was inviting rather more than those. Tommy did his best to disabuse the man of these notions.

"That's bullshit," the militia man said. "Feminism has made women go against what they really want, which is force."

A week or so later, after receiving another call from the waitress, Tommy returned to the house and opened the door, which, oddly enough given the lunatic views of its inhabitant on the subject of privacy, was unlocked. "Hey, Tommy," the man said. Behind him on a television screen an instructional video whose subject matter would be most accurately described as rape apologia was playing. Tommy said nothing. Instead he bear-hugged the man and dragged him across the room to the kitchen table. Then he began to loosen the man's belt.

"I'm ready," Tommy said, reaching for the man's fly button and zipper.

"No!" the man screamed.

"Huh?"

"No, no, stop, no."

"You told me when someone says no they really mean yes."

"No, no, no!"

"Wait," Tommy said, suddenly relaxing his grip on the man's shoulders. "Does no mean no?"

"Yes."

Tommy released the man, took the militia tape out of the VCR, and left.

I cannot exactly defend Tommy's police work here. I can only say that after his intervention no further sexual harassment was reported, nor did the suspect, if that is the right word for someone who was never formally charged with a crime, ever again attempt to propagandize on behalf of militia groups in our sparsely populated county.

This story, which I heard as a teenager, took place just after the turn of the century, by which time the Michigan militia was already falling apart. Like every revolutionary movement, it would collapse due to a combination of members' half-heartedness about the value of "the struggle" and internecine conflict over its ultimate objectives (the latter exacerbated by undercover law enforcement agents). The chief disagreement by the end of the '90s was between those who considered themselves engaged in a primarily political conflict to restore America to roughly the political conditions under which the Bill of Rights had been ratified and those who believed that the stakes were much higher, that by stockpiling weapons and watching cassettes about the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group they were preparing themselves to face the armies of Antichrist. Neither position seems to enjoy much purchase these days.

What explains the rise and rapid fall of the militia movement in the Great Lakes State during the last decade of the 20th century? And, more important, what accounts for its dogged, though thankfully rather more limited appeal today? I am wary of facile explanations, but I think two related factors can be singled out. One is the ghost of the American Founding, specifically the widespread inability to understand the revolution of 1776 in terms of the greater historical forces at work — among them the impossibility of a Western European maritime power ruling a colony whose expansion into a vast continent-spanning empire was inevitable. Instead we tell ourselves that the Founding was the glorious but unlikely legacy of a ragged band of patriots whose heroism would now (alas) be dismissed as terrorism.

The second, not entirely unrelated explanation for the appeal of militia groups belongs to political economy. In a world from which tangible authority of the sort once exercised by George III and the British Parliament has all but disappeared, replaced by a sinuous continuum of economic exchange that even in the '90s transcended borders, one in whose injustices we are all more or less equally culpable, it is understandable that some persons horrified by the pace of change and their own feelings of powerlessness would seek a more concrete enemy. But it is not what CEOs and U.N. bureaucrats do behind closed doors that ensures the survival of globalized neoliberal capitalism but what millions of us do in public each day whenever we purchase goods and services. The seat of power is the system itself, and, as various Marxist writers have shrewdly observed, it is much easier to imagine the apocalypse than an end to our current economic system.

The only cabals are the ones making idle threats to kidnap moderate liberal governors, who once bombed a daycare center in Oklahoma.

Men accused in plot on Michigan governor attended protests

DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press•October 10, 2020



1 / 15

 In a photo provided by the Antrim County Sheriff, William Null is shown in a booking photo. Null is one of several charged Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, in state court for allegedly seeking to storm the Michigan Capitol and seek a “civil war.” (Antrim County Sheriff via AP)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Among the armed protesters who rallied at the Michigan Capitol against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's coronavirus lockdown this past spring were some of the men now accused in stunning plots to kidnap her, storm the Capitol and start a “civil war.”

The revelation has sparked scrutiny of rallies that were organized by conservative groups opposed to the Democratic governor's orders and egged on by President Donald Trump. It has also prompted renewed calls from Democrats for a gun ban in the building — an effort that so far has failed even after they reported feeling threatened by rifle-carrying protesters who entered the Statehouse.

At least one man accused of aiding in the surveillance of Whitmer's home as part of the alleged scheme to kidnap her stood in the Senate gallery on April 30 as majority Republicans refused to extend an emergency declaration that was the underpinning of Whitmer's stay-at-home and other restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. “Several” of the 13 men arrested in the plots against the state government were seen at Capitol protests this year, the state attorney general's office said.

A man whom the FBI identified in court papers as a leader in the alleged plot, Adam Fox, attended an “American Patriot” pro-gun rights rally at the Capitol on June 18 to recruit members of anti-government paramilitary groups to attack the Statehouse, according to a federal complaint that cites a recording from a confidential informant.


“I’m not surprised — and anyone who is just hasn’t been paying attention," Whitmer told The Associated Press by phone on Friday. There have been Republican lawmakers and at least one sheriff at the protests, she said, "who fraternize with these domestic terror groups, who egg them on, who encourage them, who use language that incites them. They too are complicit.”

Some of the men involved in the alleged plots were members and leaders of Wolverine Watchmen, which authorities described as “an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group.” Federal authorities became aware in March about an initial plan by Wolverine Watchmen to target and kill police, according to court papers. Officials have not indicated whether law enforcement monitored the anti-lockdown protests in April and May.

Such protests have attracted a range of people, including openly armed Second Amendment backers and members of paramilitary groups dressed in tactical gear — particularly early in the pandemic when some demonstrators displayed Confederate flags, misogynistic anti-Whitmer signs and threatening images. GOP leaders have denounced such tactics while saying many people protest safely and responsibly.

The state's Republican Senate majority leader, Mike Shirkey, “does not condone violence, does not embrace violence and has never advocated in support of violence,” spokeswoman Amber McCann said. “Like many politicians, he has spoken out when he disagreed with policy.”

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf told WXMI-TV that maybe the men wanted to arrest Whitmer, not kidnap her, and suggested that could be legal. At least one man charged under the state's anti-terrorism law by Attorney General Dana Nessel appeared on stage in May at a protest in Grand Rapids against Whitmer's stay-at-home order that was also attended by the sheriff and Shirkey.

Nessel, a Democrat, told the AP that Leaf’s remarks were “terrifying.”

“To suggest that it is proper for armed gunmen who are not licensed law enforcement officers to execute an arrest on a sitting governor for policy disagreements is abhorrent to me on every level,” she said.

The bombshell charges prompted Democratic legislators to plead, again, for the GOP-led Legislature to prohibit firearms inside the Capitol.

The federal complaint alleges that Fox in June said he needed 200 men to storm the building and take hostages, including Whitmer, and that several individuals talked about using Molotov cocktails to destroy police vehicles. By July, the men had shifted to targeting Whitmer's official summer residence or her personal vacation home before settling on the latter, according to authorities.

“We literally dodged death this time — this time. But what about next time? Because there'll be a next time,” said Sen. Dayna Polehanki, a Democrat. “I pray we use our God-given common sense to make a law banning guns from this building. If not now, when?”

It is unclear if anything will change. Republican leaders are having further discussions about guns with a commission that maintains the Capitol. A panel member noted that legislators have authority over certain areas of the building including the voting chambers.

“From the evidence I've read, a magnetometer or similar equipment would not have stopped what was planned,” John Truscott said. Shirkey told reporters: “There is no way in a country like ours that you can legislate and get rid of all risk.”

Whitmer told the AP she is concerned about the safety of lawmakers, visiting schoolchildren, media and others.

“The Legislature needs to act to protect everyone at the Capitol,” she said. “It is all of our building and every one of us should be able to go in there and feel safe.”

Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, said the anti-government movement in the U.S. and certainly in Michigan has been particularly active at statehouses in the past year — first by opposing proposed “red flag” laws that allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from people deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others, and later by opposing governors' measures to combat the pandemic.

“Militia groups and other actors who harbor violent agendas will continue to look for opportunities to conduct attacks against politicians, community members and government officials whom they believe are legitimate targets,” said Javed Ali, a former senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council who is a policymaker in residence at the University of Michigan.

___

Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit, John Flesher in Traverse City and Angie Wang in Atlanta contributed.

___

Delaware suspect in Whitmer plot was pardoned last year


RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press•October 9, 2020


DOVER, Del. (AP) — The Delaware man charged in federal court with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a long criminal history and was pardoned just last year by Delaware’s governor for crimes dating to 1994, according to state records.

Barry G. Croft Jr., 44, was taken into custody this week after being arrested by the FBI in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Croft made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in Wilmington on Thursday.

Croft was being held Friday at a state prison in Wilmington. A hearing on his continued detention and removal to Michigan is scheduled for Tuesday.

Five other men, all from Michigan, were charged in the alleged scheme that involved months of planning and even rehearsals to snatch Whitmer from her vacation home.


Croft spent nearly three years in prison after being convicted on Dec. 1, 1997, of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. That sentence followed a one-year stint that ended in March 1996.

In April 2019, one week after Delaware revenue officials filed a state tax lien against Croft for more than $36,700, Democratic Gov. John Carney granted him a pardon for the 1997 gun charge and several other convictions from 1994 to 1996. The crimes involved included assault, burglary, theft and receiving stolen property.

Carney’s pardon came after a December 2018 Board of Pardons hearing at which the attorney general’s office did not object to Croft’s request for a pardon. The board’s recommendation for a pardon was based on the lack of opposition from the state “and the need for a pardon for employment purposes.”

“The prior administration did not oppose this application because Croft’s criminal history was more than 20 years old and it appeared to everyone involved that his offenses were in his past and that he had gotten himself on the right track,” said Mat Marshall, a spokeswoman for Democratic Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “Needless to say, nobody — neither the DOJ nor the bipartisan Board of Pardons — would have endorsed a pardon had they known what the future held.”

Jonathan Starkey, a spokesman for Carney, noted that the charges in Croft’s unopposed pardon petition were from 1994 and 1997, more than 20 years earlier, and the pardon was unopposed.

“The charges brought in Michigan are disturbing and everyone charged in this plot should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Starkey said. “This is also another warning sign about the growing threat of violence and radicalization in our politics.”

In addition to Croft’s criminal convictions, authorities in Delaware twice sought to have him declared a habitual offender for motor vehicle offenses, first in 1995 and again in 2004.

He was also the subject of a criminal judgment filed in July 2005 but not satisfied until 2018. It’s unclear what offense that involved.

According to the Delaware Department of Correction, Croft was last under DOC supervision in January 2005, when a period of probation ended.

One of the men involved in the plot to kidnap Michigan governor had 'rage issues,' report says

Yelena Dzhanova,
Business Insider•October 10, 2020

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer addresses the media about the flooding along the Tittabawassee River, after several dams breached, in downtown Midland Reuters/Rebecca Cook


One of the six men charged by the FBI with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had shown signs of "rage issues" while a member of the Michigan Home Guard, BuzzFeed News reported.

The man, Adam Fox, also appeared to want to incite violence against racial justice protesters earlier this year, Michigan Home Guard cofounder Rick Foreman said. 

The FBI said that Fox and the other suspects involved in the plot "agreed to unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments that they believe are violating the U.S. Constitution."

One man charged on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had previously exhibited signs of "rage issues" and clashed with racial justice protesters, BuzzFeed News reported.

Rick Foreman, the cofounder of Michigan Home Guard, which proclaims to be the state's "largest and most active militia," told BuzzFeed News that the man, Adam Fox, had been kicked out of the group earlier this year.

"He has rage issues," Foreman said, adding that there were no problems with Fox until he became a full member of the group. 

"And then all of the sudden he's all anti-government, he wants to start a war, he wants to take people out," Foreman said. 

The FBI on Thursday identified Fox as one of the six men involved with a plot to kidnap Whitmer. Fox had orchestrated several facets of the planned attack, including conducting meetings with accomplices and contacting members of a Michigan-based militia group to carry out the plan, an FBI affidavit reads.

The suspects "agreed to unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments that they believe are violating the U.S. Constitution," the FBI said.

While at the Michigan Home Guard, Fox had threatened multiple people, Foreman said. 

At one point in June, when Fox had still been a part of the Michigan Home Guard, the group gathered for an "American Patriot Rally" in front of the state capitol building, BuzzFeed News reported. Counterprotesters calling for racial justice appeared, and Fox tried to block them and seemed to want to engage the group in a physical altercation, Foreman told BuzzFeed News. 

Foreman also said that other group members speculated that Fox was taking steroids during his time at the Michigan Home Guard, saying that he had "roid rage." 

Far-right and right-wing protesters were angered earlier this year when Whitmer issued a statewide lockdown in response to the spreading coronavirus. Many brought guns to the state capitol building, according to photographs that flooded social media. Business Insider received almost 1,200 emails from Michigan residents complaining about her executive order. 

President Donald Trump openly embraced the groups, calling them "very good people" who "want their lives back again, safely."

2 suspects in Michigan kidnapping plot are US Marines who were recently-discharged

David Choi, Business Insider•October 10, 2020

Both of the veterans' military awards mentioned in the report were unremarkable.
Joseph Morrison, left, and Daniel Harris. Associated Press

Two of the men charged with terrorism-related crimes and a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor are Marine Corps veterans, a service spokesperson said to Marine Corps Times.

Joseph Morrison, 26, was a Marine reservist who reportedly discharged as a lance corporal, on Thursday, the same day the charges were announced.

Another Marine veteran, 23-year-old Daniel Harris, was an infantryman and was discharged in 2019.

Two of the men charged with terrorism-related crimes and a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor on Thursday are Marine Corps veterans, a service spokesperson reportedly said.

A Marine Corps spokesman told Marine Corps Times on Saturday that Joseph Morrison, 26, was a Marine reservist since 2015. Morrison was reportedly discharged as a lance corporal, a junior enlisted service member, on Thursday.

The spokesman told the Marine Corps Times that his recent discharge was unrelated to the alleged plot he was implicated in.

Morrison was one of the cofounders of an armed militant group dubbed the "Wolverine Watchmen," according to state investigators. The group was said to have had a broad goal of fueling a "civil war leading to societal collapse."

Another Marine veteran, 23-year-old Daniel Harris, enlisted in the service when he was 18 in 2015, according to the Marine Corps Times. Harris, who was an infantryman, was discharged in 2019.

Harris was one of six men charged by federal attorneys for allegedly conspiring to kidnap Gov. Whitmer.

A total of six men, including Harris, are facing federal charges with the plot to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Seven others, including Morrison, are facing state terrorism-related charges.

The group, which has ties to the amorphous militant "boogaloo" movement, allegedly urged its members to conduct surveillance on Gov. Whitmer's private home and gather information on law enforcement officers to kill them.

Adam Fox, one of the six men who was charged in the plot, was quoted saying he needed "200 men" to attack the Capitol in Lansing and take hostages, including Whitmer.

"Snatch and grab, man. Grab the f---in' governor. Just grab the b----," Fox said during a July 27 meeting recorded by an informant, according to the affidavit. "Because at that point, we do that, dude — it's over."

Gov. Whitmer has been criticized by conservative activists for the state's response to the coronavirus. In April, Whitmer extended a stay-at-home order that imposed restrictions on businesses that were classified as essential. The order was later rescinded as part of the state's reopening plans. The armed group's associates characterized Whitmer as a "tyrant b----," according to a federal affidavit.

Harris's attorney denied his client's alleged involvement was intentional.

"All of this is something that he didn't envision happening, so he has given me information that makes me call into question at least some of the things that are related in the complaint," Parker Douglas, the attorney for Harris, said to WJRT-TV. "And that just means certain things that may have been said or related that he believes may have been taken out of context."

What if armed, far-right groups go to the polls? Some plan to

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Jaweed Kaleem,
LA Times•October 10, 2020

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the group the Oath Keepers, center, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington in 2017. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

They go by names like Oath Keepers, Wolverine Watchmen and the Three Percenters. They chat on Gab, Discord, 4chan and other social media. Heavily armed and loyal to President Trump, many vow to descend on polling places Nov. 3. in a far-right show of unity.

Armed, far-right groups have long echoed at the fringes of American politics, drawing white nationalists and other extremists to their ranks. But over the last four years — when conservative causes have collided with social justice movements — their voices have grown louder, their actions more brazen. The alleged plot this week by extremists to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was a stunning indication of the potential for domestic terrorism.

The groups are now turning their attention to battleground states in the most consequential election in generations. Far-right organizations have rallied around Trump, positioning themselves as a counterforce to movements like the anti-fascist antifa and Black Lives Matter, whom they blame for nationwide protests that have stirred unrest in recent months. The majority of Black Lives Matter protesters have been nonviolent.

The Oath Keepers claim thousands of members, including those who served in the military and law enforcement. Some have signed up as poll watchers, while others plan to monitor the election armed and “undercover,” drawing their weapons if needed, said founder Stewart Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale law school graduate: "We’ll be out on election day to protect people who are voting.”


With political tensions running high across the country, protesters from a variety of groups could clash at polling places. Experts are especially focused on dangers raised by armed right-wing factions and self-styled militias with national networks who may intimidate voters, particularly immigrants and minorities.

“The chances are really high that we’re going to see militia members, armed groups or Trump supporters who are armed at the polls,” said Cassie Miller, a senior researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Not only are these people willing to participate in voter intimidation, but they’re hoping to create this chaotic moment. There’s an unwillingness to accept anything but a Trump victory.”

Two members of the Oath Keepers are seen in Louisville earlier this year. (Stewart Rhodes)

The groups fall under the far-right banner but they're not uniform in their methods and beliefs. Most express support for law enforcement, but have vigilante tendencies. Some call themselves law-abiding militias. Others, like the Oath Keepers, reject militia, white supremacist and racist labels. Those like the Proud Boys, which has been designated a hate group, and the Boogaloo movement, another far-right anti-government group, are prone to violence and see the election as an opportunity.

They have become increasingly vocal in politics. But the threat of extremists has a deep history, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh, which killed 168 people at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and the 2016 standoff in Oregon between supporters of Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and federal authorities.

Trump's rhetoric over the last four years has been regarded by far-right organizations as implicit endorsement. In 2017, when neo-Nazis and white supremacists at the "Unite the Right" rally attacked peaceful demonstrators in Charlottesville, Va., killing a protester, the president did not immediately condemn them. Last month, during his debate with Joe Biden, Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by” before saying the next day that he was not aware of the group.

Many armed groups have been banned from mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, which this week also purged QAnon conspiracy theorists, who believe Satan-worshiping pedophiles are running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against Trump. But armed groups' online chatter about the election has not been muffled: They rely instead on private Telegram channels, member-only forums and the Zello walkie-talkie app.

A post to a QAnon-affiliated Telegram group with 5,200 subscribers this month warned of “heavily armed MAGA patriots” standing ready for the election, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a Bethesda, Md..-based research organization that tracks extremists online.

“I want nothing more than to stand down and live in peace, but if it goes bad, God forgive me for what I do when they force my hand,” an Oath Keeper wrote while discussing the election on a members-only forum this month. "It’s not going to end, these people, and I hate saying it, are going to have to be stopped. Is President Trump going to, with the aid of the proper authorities, arrest them or are we the people going to have to get involved?"

A member of the Three Percenters in a parking lot two blocks away from the Taylor-Made Women's Empowerment Event at Vibes presented by Until Freedom during BreonnaCon on Aug. 22 in Louisville, Ky. (Amy Harris / Invision via AP)

In another online forum of Three Percenters — an armed group that draws its name from the supposed 3% of colonists who fought the American Revolution — a Vermont member warned, “November is almost here, prepare for anything! Reach out to your neighboring states and work on those relationships to increase your intel as well as regional strength.”

People showing up armed at protests have led to several deaths so far this year. Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old vigilante now celebrated by some right-wing groups, was charged in August with homicide in connection with the fatal shooting of two people in Kenosha, Wisc., during protests against a police shooting of a Black man. Last month, a supporter of the right-wing Patriot Prayer was fatally shot in Portland, Ore., by an antifa-affiliated protester later killed by federal agents attempting to arrest him.

Michigan militia members had rallied at — and inside — the state Capitol this year to oppose the state's COVID-19 restrictions. But concern over violence increased this week after state and federal authorities there charged 13 men with plotting to kidnap the Democrat governor and put her on trial for “uncontrolled power.” In recent weeks, the men had trained and dubbed themselves the Wolverine Watchmen.

Members of the Michigan Home Guard, which supports the 2nd Amendment, take part in the annual march at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Sept. 17. (Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)

Adam Peisker, an officer with the Michigan Home Guard, one of the largest of the state’s militias with more than 300 members, condemned the men charged this week, saying he knew one who “has a past of not fitting in well and being kicked out of militias.” He said the Wolverine Watchmen were not a known militia, but that it's common for militias to form in Michigan, then dissolve or merge with national groups.

Peisker, 32, a firefighter in southeast Michigan, said his group would not be poll watching but, “If rioting happens we will have to assess where are the damages. We protect our members first then we reach out to law enforcement and see where we can help."

The Department of Homeland Security warned this week that anti-government groups could carry out attacks over a perceived "infringement of liberties and government overreach” with polling sites “likely flash points for potential violence.” A report by the Gifford Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence predicted: “It is likely that significant numbers of people will bring guns to polling places under the guise of preventing election fraud.” Georgetown Law School created an online tool to check laws concerning guns at polling places.

Twenty-five states, including California, have statutes that criminalize certain paramilitary activity, according to a Georgetown Law report.

Black Lives Matter protesters in swing states also plan to go to the polls to protect voters, especially minorities, from being intimidated by right-wing groups: “This could be the biggest voter turnout in history, a lot of them people of color," said KeJuan Goldsmith, 19, a Black activist college student who led a protest against police brutality in Green Bay, Wisc., on Saturday. "If we need to be there for them to be protected, so they can cast their vote without fear, that’s what we have to do.”

Rhodes, 55, said the Oath Keepers militia plans to proactively monitor polling places as it did during the last presidential election, reporting problems to police. He said it's most concerned with swing states like Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin and has intelligence analysts looking at other states where the vote's expected to be close.

A member of the Oath Keepers walks with his personal weapon on the street during protests in Ferguson, Mo., in 2015. (Michael B. Thomas / AFP via Getty Images)

Rhodes, a former criminal defense lawyer, tells members of his group to obey the law and not to menace voters. His group has provided volunteer security at recent Trump rallies, where he claimed supporters were attacked by armed counter-protesters. He fears they will show up at the polls, where Trump supporters, many of whom tend to be skeptical about the dangers of COVID-19, are more likely to vote in person.

“I’ll be voting in person and so will everybody else I know, and I think the radical left knows that,” Rhodes said by phone while visiting Houston this week. He supports law enforcement, but said it has been so "hands off" in protecting recent Trump rallies that at the polls, “I am not confident police will do their job."

He advised his group to monitor the polls with their guns hidden because, “We want it to be difficult to know you’re being watched.” He added: “You’re not going to be able to tell who’s an Oath Keeper and who’s not. I’ll tell my guys to stay concealed unless they’re in a situation that requires them to be overt," such as protesters near the polls wielding guns.

“If we see that kind of behavior, we’re going to intervene. We’ve done it before,” he said. “If the cops are doing their job we’ll just stand by. If they’re not, we’ll step in.”

Jim Murphy runs the Black Robe Regiment, an armed, Christian tea party offshoot in Wisconsin. Murphy, 73, a county commissioner with a web design business in Green Bay, communicates with his 300 members online. A man who never leaves home without his 9mm handgun, Murphy said his group is not endorsing violence ahead of the election. But one of his recent tweets called for taking down officials in the federal government.

Earlier this month, he tweeted support for upending the so-called “deep state." He added: "When Will This Happen? We can’t call the cops on the cops in Washington so is it really going to come down to us to physically" remove them by force.

Some experts predict armed groups will appear in cities where Trump has alleged voter fraud, like Philadelphia. Others said they’re more likely where they have the most members: The West Coast, particularly the Pacific Northwest. Still others suggest they will head to anti-lockdown and police protest hotspots: Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Devin Burghart, executive director of the Seattle-based Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, said they’ve tracked far-right groups online planning to go to the polls in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Those who spot them can report to his group via their app and it will alert local legal observers like the NAACP.

He said armed groups "will refer to it as ‘voter integrity’ or ‘poll watching’ but the act of showing up armed is certainly a deterrent to folks showing up to vote,” Burghart said.

Heidi Beirich, Georgia-based co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said violence is more likely to erupt in cities or states led by Democrats that Trump singled out since COVID-19 restrictions began, including Louisville, Detroit, Kenosha, Portland and Seattle.

At a rally last month in Portland, the Proud Boys announced plans to monitor Oregon sites where mailed ballots were dropped off, according to Miller, the SPLC researcher. In messages leaked from another right-wing Oregon group’s online forum, she noted, members suggested monitoring the polls from their cars or setting up game cameras. Miller called the Oath Keepers' plan to patrol the polls undercover “a frightening prospect” that could lead to vote suppression. And she was tracking Chris Hill, Georgia-based leader of the III% Security Force, who’s been discussing the election on YouTube.

Hill, 45, a Marine veteran and paralegal known as General Blood Agent, said he's not urging his 75-member group to go to the polls because, “It could be confused with intimidation. I don’t want to open up that Pandora’s box."

But Hill fears “ballot harvesting” and civil unrest on election day, and will respond if that happens.

“If people are being targeted by radicals, I’m going to be there to protect them. I don’t need to get permission from any government agency,” Hill said by phone this week. “Snuff it out quickly or we will assist in defending people and places in our state and we will cross state lines to do that as well."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

'Watchmen' Creator Alan Moore: Superhero Movies May Have Contributed To Trump's Rise


Jeremy Blum HuffPost•October 10, 2020


Alan Moore — the famed British co- creator of the graphic novels “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta” and writer of dozens of DC and Marvel comics — offered a blistering critique of comics and argued that superhero movies may very well have contributed to the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit.

“I’m not so interested in comics anymore,” Moore said in a rare interview in Deadline on Friday. He is promoting his upcoming film, “The Show,” a nightmarish tale set in Northampton, England.

Moore retired from writing comics in 2018 after the release of the final issue of the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” series, which inspired the 2003 Sean Connery film of the same name. 

“I had been doing comics for 40-something years when I finally retired,” Moore said. “When I entered the comics industry, the big attraction was that this was a medium that was vulgar. It had been created to entertain working-class people, particularly children. The way that the industry has changed, it’s ‘graphic novels’ now. It’s entirely priced for an audience of middle-class people. I have nothing against middle-class people, but it wasn’t meant to be a medium for middle-aged hobbyists. It was meant to be a medium for people who haven’t got much money.”

Moore added that mainstream audiences today tend to equate comics with superhero films, much to his displeasure. Moore slowly transitioned away from superhero stories over the course of his career, partly because of his negative experience working with DC, which he said “managed to successfully swindle” him through constricting contracts after the publication of “Watchmen” in the 1980s.

Since then, Moore criticized movies based on his stories. Following the negative reception of the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” movie, Moore asked that his name be removed from all film versions of his work. Neither the 2009 movie based on his seminal comic series “Watchmen” or HBO’s 2019 sequel TV series bear his name.

“I haven’t seen a superhero movie since the first Tim Burton ‘Batman’ film,” Moore told Deadline. “They have blighted cinema and also blighted culture to a degree. Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous; it was infantilizing the population.”

Moore — who added that the best version of “Batman” in his opinion was the campy 1966 Adam West TV show, “which didn’t take it at all seriously” — speculated that an overabundance of superhero cinema may even have led to the current political state of the world.

“This may be entirely coincidence, but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest-grossing films were superhero movies,” Moore said. “Not to say that one causes the other, but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing — a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.”

Alan Moore Gives Rare Interview: 

‘Watchmen’ Creator Talks New Project ‘The Show’, How Superhero Movies Have “Blighted Culture” & Why He Wants Nothing To Do With Comics


By Tom Grater
International Film Reporter@tomsmovies

October 9, 2020 8:13am

Alan Moore AP


EXCLUSIVE: As the creator of Watchmen, V For Vendetta and many more celebrated comic series, Alan Moore is one of the industry’s biggest names, but his frosty relationship with the film adaptations of his works has been well documented. After some very public dissatisfaction with previous endeavours (see The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen), he now refuses to let his name be linked with any such projects, even declining to profit from the big-screen incarnations, a decision that he estimates has cost him millions.

Deadline

Now, Moore is attempting to break into the film business on his own terms with original project The Show. Starring Tom Burke and directed by Mitch Jenkins, the fantastical adventure, set in Moore’s hometown of Northampton, follows a man’s search for a stolen artefact, a journey that leads him into a surreal world of crime and mystery.

Moore, who tends to duck the limelight, gave a rare interview to Deadline this week to discuss The Show, which has been something of a passion project for the writer. Him and his producers have kept it independent every step of the way, insisting on retaining creative control and rights to their own IP. After making several shorts film and now this feature, Moore has plans for a TV series based on the same characters and has already worked out 4-5 seasons worth of material, he tells us.

I also took the chance to ask him about retiring from comics in 2018, which his followers will be disappointed to hear he seems firmly set on, as well as his take on the current world of blockbuster superhero films, which he has been an inadvertent factor in. Safe to say, he is not a fan. He’s also not a fan of the current UK or U.S. political regimes, particularly Donald Trump, or “National Socialist satsuma”, as Moore refers to him.

The Show would have premiered at SXSW earlier this year, but following the Austin event’s cancellation it is headed to Spanish genre festival Sitges where it will debut online October 8 before a physical screening on October 12. Protagonist Pictures is handling world sales.

DEADLINE: Hi Alan, what’s your lockdown experience in Northampton been like?

ALAN MOORE: Me and my wife Melinda are still effectively living in late February – it’s about the same temperature. We are ignoring all advice from the government because we don’t think they have our best interests at heart, we’re just doing what we think is the most sensible thing, we’re maintaining distancing, having our stuff delivered. We haven’t seen or touched anybody in the last six months.

On the other hand, we’re finding that we’re closer to people even though we haven’t seen them in the flesh for ages. We’re spending a lot more time calling up and reading stories to our grandchildren, which is a lot of fun. Things that we didn’t find the time for back when the world was trundling ahead. Yes we miss everybody, but at the same time I can see different sorts of bonds forming. We will keep informed by listening to proper doctor and scientists.

DEADLINE: You retired from comics after finishing The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2018, any thoughts on getting back in the saddle?

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Titan Books

MOORE: I’m not so interested in comics anymore, I don’t want anything to do with them.

I had been doing comics for 40-something years when I finally retired. When I entered the comics industry, the big attraction was that this was a medium that was vulgar, it had been created to entertain working class people, particularly children. The way that the industry has changed, it’s ‘graphic novels’ now, it’s entirely priced for an audience of middle class people. I have nothing against middle class people but it wasn’t meant to be a medium for middle aged hobbyists. It was meant to be a medium for people who haven’t got much money.

Most people equate comics with superhero movies now. That adds another layer of difficulty for me. I haven’t seen a superhero movie since the first Tim Burton Batman film. They have blighted cinema, and also blighted culture to a degree. Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world, and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous, it was infantilizing the population.

This may be entirely coincidence but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the UK voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest grossing films were superhero movies. Not to say that one causes the other but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing – a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.

DEADLINE: You said you feel responsible for how comics have changed, why?

MOORE: It was largely my work that attracted an adult audience, it was the way that was commercialized by the comics industry, there were tons of headlines saying that comics had ‘grown up’. But other than a couple of particular individual comics they really hadn’t.

This thing happened with graphic novels in the 1980s. People wanted to carry on reading comics as they always had, and they could now do it in public and still feel sophisticated because they weren’t reading a children’s comic, it wasn’t seen as subnormal. You didn’t get the huge advances in adult comic books that I was thinking we might have. As witnessed by the endless superhero films…

DEADLINE: What’s your take on the comics industry now?

MOORE: I doubt the major companies will be coming out of lockdown in any shape at all. The mainstream comics industry is about 80 years old and it has lots of pre-existing health conditions. It wasn’t looking that great before COVID happened.

Most of our entertainment industries have been a bit top heavy for a while. The huge corporations, business interests, have so much money they can produce these gigantic blockbusters of one sort or another that will dominate their markets. I can see that changing, and perhaps for the better. It’s too early to make optimistic predictions but you might hope that the bigger interests will find it more difficult to manoeuvre in this new landscape, whereas the smaller independent concerns might find that they are a bit more adapted. These times might be an opportunity for genuinely radical and new voices to come to the fore in the absence of yesteryear.

DEADLINE: The economic realties, and lack of support for the arts, could hamper that.

MOORE: That is undeniable. I am talking in the long-term. There is going to be an awful lot of economic pain for everybody before this is over. I’m not even sure it ever will technically be over, until we’ve reached a better stage of equilibrium, whatever that turns out to be. When that was attained I hope we might see a very different landscape culturally.

DEADLINE: Do you watch no superhero movies at all? What about something a bit offbeat, like Joker? You wrote a key Batman comic book…

MOORE: Oh christ no I don’t watch any of them. All of these characters have been stolen from their original creators, all of them. They have a long line of ghosts standing behind them. In the case of Marvel films, Jack Kirby [the Marvel artist and writer]. I have no interest in superheroes, they were a thing that was invented in the late 1930s for children, and they are perfectly good as children’s entertainment. But if you try to make them for the adult world then I think it becomes kind of grotesque.

Batman: The Killing Joke DC Comics

I’ve been told the Joker film wouldn’t exist without my Joker story (1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke), but three months after I’d written that I was disowning it, it was far too violent – it was Batman for christ’s sake, it’s a guy dressed as a bat. Increasingly I think the best version of Batman was Adam West, which didn’t take it at all seriously. We have a kind of superhero character in The Show but if we get the chance to develop them more then people will be able to see all of the characters have quite unusual aspects to them.

DEADLINE: Hasn’t cinema always been a form of escapism, to an extent?

MOORE: Sometimes it was, all art-forms are potentially. But they can be used for something other than escapism. Think of all the films that have really challenged assumptions, films that have been difficult to take on board, disturbing in their messages. The same goes for literature. But these superhero films are too often escapism.

With regards to The Show, I think it’s an interesting case in point. I am known, perhaps a bit unfairly, for creating dystopias – I think I’ve done one or two but the rest are just my reflections on the world as I see it. With The Show, it could very well be argued that it is actually set in a dystopia, in that Northampton is the first British town in something like 35 years to collapse into an economic blackhole. We went into special measures in the early months of 2018. We can only afford skeleton services. They’re now talking about breaking it up into two different voting areas, which I imagine will make it Conservative until the end of time. There are a lot of failed social visions, mismanagement, but the imaginary life of the town… it has odd little pockets of surrealism and bizarreness that are still there, same as they’ve ever been, that are coming to the fore as Northampton’s waking reality has been so disjointed. The Show is an observed fantasy on a number of levels, but an awful lot of it is true. The town really is that odd-looking.

DEADLINE: In retirement, are you still creating, do you still write?

MOORE: I’ve only retired from comics. I’m finishing off a book of magic now. It’s been stalled for a while but I’m also working on an opera about John Dee with [musician] Howard Gray. I’ve got some short stories coming out. And I’ve also been thinking a lot about what we want to do after The Show feature film. We hope that it’s enjoyable as a thing in itself, but to some degree it could be seen as an incredibly elaborate pilot episode, we think there’s quite an interesting story that we could develop out of it as a TV series, which would imaginatively be called The Show.  

 

‘The Show’  Protagonist Pictures

I’ve worked out about four-five seasons of potential episodes. We’re showing that around to people to see how it goes, if there should be any interest I am prepared to launch myself into that. We’re not asking for a huge amount of money we’re just asking for control over the work and ownership over the work, if that is something people are prepared to give us we have no problem with people making money out of it. What we have got a problem with is us losing our rights to the ownership of the material, and having the work interfered with in any way.

DEADLINE: It sounds like the kind of thing Netflix might be interested in, but retaining your IP might be an issue…

MOORE: We shall see. There are options. All we need is to own our IP. But that’s why it has taken us so long to get to the feature film stage, and to get the five short films made previously. I really don’t have an interest in writing for movies or television per se, it has to be on my terms, which I think are fair ones. I’ve got no problem with other people making money from those works.

DEADLINE: Fair to say you’ve earned that right.

MOORE: I think so.

DEADLINE: Why make the shorts first?

MOORE: When we were trying to get this made some people wanted us to make a short film that would later be made into a feature film. As soon as it was announced that I was doing any sort of film there was suddenly a lot of interest in it. People said it could be a short that turned into a feature and a TV series, like This Is England. I realised without changing it I could open up the story, it could become a much bigger narrative.

DEADLINE: And you used the shorts to attract the feature finance?

MOORE: The BFI nobly gave us just over £1m if we could get someone to match that. It went on for a few years with various partners getting involved but not being able to work out the financial details. I was coming to the end of my rope and then we heard the financing was in place and we had something like £3m and could go ahead and make the film in November 2018.

We started on schedule, but I noticed there seemed to be a lot of the investors gathering around Mitch [Jenkins, director] in the early days of the film. When we finally got it finished we had a modest wrap party at a local restaurant, I thought it was a good-looking film for £3m, and then Mitch said, ‘we didn’t do that for £3m’… apparently just before the film was due to start soothing, some of the investors pulled out, they said it would take another year or two to raise the money again but someone said if I heard this had happened they would probably never see me again. They gave Mitch a chance to make it for £1m but were breathing down his neck to make sure he met all the deadlines. I believe we got it shot for £900,000, I don’t think it looks like a £900,000 movie…

DEADLINE: It certainly doesn’t. Did you have to make compromises?

MOORE: There was one scene that was removed because there wasn’t time for it. There might have been small changes but not really significantly. The main good fortune was that we had Northampton at our disposal, perhaps the only good thing about having the town on its knees is that the council are absolutely desperate for anything that will draw any kind of financial attention to this collapsed hellhole. They gave us the freedom of the town.

DEADLINE: What are your hopes for the film?

MOORE: I hope people will enjoy it and will be interested enough to see how the story will evolve in a TV series. I hope that all the people who worked on the film, including the brilliant actors, get the recognition. But all of that is in the lap of the gods.

DEADLINE: I’m a huge fan of Tom Burke…

MOORE: Absolutely, he’s terrific, he brought such a lot to the character and he’s a terrific guy as well. I particularly enjoyed my scene with Tom.

DEADLINE: How long did it take you to get into that makeup? [See below]

MOORE: Oh, hours. Our makeup designer was an absolute genius, she did it as quickly as anybody could

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Protagonist Pictures

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ALAN MOORE