As threats of far-right violence rise, New Hampshire Free Staters shared list of 'woke' churches


Haven Orecchio-Egresitz,Kenneth Niemeyer
Fri, August 19, 2022

A New Hampshire church urged worshippers to wash their hands amid a Covid outbreak.

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

A New Hampshire libertarian group tweeted a list of churches, classifying them by how "woke" they are.


Being LGBTQ-friendly, COVID-cautious, or having a Ukraine flag displayed is considered "woke."


The list was posted amid a spike in far-right threats of violence.

The Free State Project — a New Hampshire-based libertarian movement — tweeted a list of Christian churches in the state, identifying those that are considered "woke."

The list, which was published on a wiki called "LibertyWins.org," largely measures "wokeness" by whether the church is LGBTQ-friendly, has advocated for racial or social justice, or had implemented COVID precautions.

It was distributed by The Free State Twitter account, which has over 80,000 followers.

The list on "LibertyWins.org" titled "Christianity in New Hampshire," doesn't detail the intention of the list, but some critics on Twitter are calling the "wokeness" classification a "racist dog whistle" and worry that it will prompt attacks on the places of worship.

State Democratic Rep. Lucy Weber has previously protested against The Free State Project and described them as anti-LGBTQ. Weber told Insider that she didn't want to speculate about the group's motivations for compiling the list, but found it "distasteful."

"It's not an issue I have a lot to say on except that they've gotten the right to say it," Weber told Insider. "They're not government actors, so I find it distasteful, but I'm allowed to have my opinions too."

There are nearly 900 churches named, and they are identified by their location and denomination.




In a column called "wokeness" there are notes.

While displaying a Pride flag, or requiring masks was a sure-fire way to land churches on the list, there were other reasons cited for the classification.

An Episcopal church made its way on the woke list by donating to the NAACP. Another displayed a Ukraine flag on its website. A third included a blurb on its website about how they are located on "unceded native American land."

Eight Episcopal churches on the list were included for either supporting the LGBTQ. community on their websites or for generally being LGBTQ affirming churches. The Episcopal Church is generally more accepting of the LGBTQ community, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the former Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, was the first openly gay priest to become a bishop of a major Christian denomination.

A representative for the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire told Insider in a statement that the church was aware of the list.

"The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire supports gay marriage, as do Episcopal bishops and churches across the nation, as does The Episcopal Church as a governing body," the statement read. "We are all seeking to be disciples of our savior Jesus Christ."

Founded by Jason Sorens, the Free State Project is a movement that since the early 2000s has encouraged the migration of "liberty activists" to New Hampshire, where they hope to live in a libertarian limited-government utopia.

The group's website explicitly says it is not tied to "any political party or organization," though many of its members who do run or serve in political office are registered as Republicans.

The Free State Project didn't return Insider's messages for comment.

At a recent protest against the movement, Weber told The Keene Sentinel that the group may preach freedom, but that liberty doesn't extend to people in the LGBTQ community. Members of the group, she said, have pushed to make it harder to register to vote and want to restrict abortions.

"They go, 'we're for liberty, we're for freedom.' Who isn't?" Weber told the Sentinel in July. "Their freedom is only for people who are just like them and they don't seem to have a concept of the public good."

Extremist threats of violence are at a high

The Free State Project says on its website — in bold — that "it does not welcome anyone who promotes violence, racial hatred, or bigotry" and in 2013 it kicked out infamous neo-Nazi Christopher Cantwell after he wrote about killing government agents and violently overthrowing the government.

And while the group says it doesn't welcome those who promote violence, the list, which singles out places of worship due to ideology, was shared on Twitter as threats of extremist far-right violence are at a high.

References to "civil war" doubled on online extremist platforms in the week following the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, Insider previously reported.

Extremists have taken to both niche social media platforms and mainstream sites like TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to preach pro-Trump violence.

Antisemitic threats against the Jewish Florida judge who signed the search warrant became so specific and credible that his temple canceled Shabbat services.

Judge Bruce Reinhart and Attorney General Merrick Garland have been subjected to "an enormous amount of threats and vitriol online," Alex Friedfeld, who monitors online extremism for the Anti Defamation League's Center On Extremism, told Insider.

A History of Libertarian Utopianism | Libertarianism.org

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FRIDAY; TIME FOR ANOTHER PALESTINIAN FUNERAL

Palestinian killed during Israeli raid in occupied West Bank






Mourners read versus of Quran and take the last look at the body of Salah Sawafta, 58 during his funeral at a mosque, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. Israeli forces shot and killed Sawafta during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to his brother, who said he was walking home when a bullet struck him in the head as Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian youths. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)More

JELAL HASSAN
Fri, August 19, 2022 

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A 58-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed outside a bakery during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank early on Friday.

His family and the Palestinian Health Ministry said he was shot by Israeli troops. The military said he may have been struck by gunfire from Palestinian militants during clashes that broke out during the raid, but a Palestinian eyewitness said there were no militants in the immediate area.

In a separate development, Israel approved an additional 1,500 work permits for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, less than two weeks after the territory's militant Hamas rulers sat out the latest round of violence there.

Salah Sawafta, 58, was shot in the head as he was returning home from dawn prayers in the West Bank town of Tubas, according to his brother, Jehad.


“There were clashes with youths in the area and Salah was shot by a sniper in the head after he bought a bag of bread from a grocery store,” he said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he died after being brought to a local hospital in critical condition.

Surveillance video from outside the bakery shows Sawafta falling to the ground as another man leans out from the doorway and looks down the street. Neither Israeli troops nor Palestinian militants can be seen in the video.

Zakreya Abu Dollah, the bakery owner, said he was surprised to see Israeli soldiers and a sniper taking up positions on the road outside his shop just before the shooting. He said there were no Palestinian gunmen or stone-throwers in the immediate area.

The Israeli military said its troops went to arrest Palestinians suspected of taking part in or planning attacks. Palestinians hurled firebombs and opened fire at the soldiers, who shot back, the military said, adding that “a hit was identified,” without elaborating. The military said it was still investigating the incident.

Israeli forces carry out near-daily raids in the West Bank, including in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, which often ignite violent confrontations with stone-throwing Palestinians or gunmen.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power from the Palestinian Authority two years later.

Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller battles, and Israel and Egypt have imposed a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep Hamas from re-arming, while critics view it as a form of collective punishment of Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinian residents.

Israel has taken steps to ease the blockade over the past year as part of understandings with Hamas aimed at preserving calm, including issuing thousands of permits for Palestinian laborers from Gaza to work inside Israel. The latest increase brings the total number of permits to 15,500.

That likely factored into Hamas' decision to stay out of the most recent fighting, which began when Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against what it said was an imminent threat from Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group in Gaza.

An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ended three days of heavy fighting in which Israel carried out waves of airstrikes against what it said were militant targets and Islamic Jihad fired some 1,100 rockets at Israel. The fighting killed at least 49 Palestinians, including 17 children, as well as more than a dozen militants. No Israelis were killed or seriously wounded.

Japan asks its youth to drink more alcohol, launches campaign

Japan has launched a campaign to promote alcohol-drinking among young people as it faces the sobering reality of a population crisis.

India Today Web Desk 

New Delhi

August 20, 2022

Female customers toast with beer at a restaurant in

 Tokyo, Japan, August 29, 2017.

 Picture taken on August 29, 2017.

 (Reuters photo)

HIGHLIGHTS

Japan has asked its young adults to drink more alcohol

Campaign “Sake Viva!” has been launched by Japan's National Tax Agency

It urges youngsters to come up with ideas that might help increase demand for alcoholic drinks

Amid the decline in the revenue collections, Japan has asked its young adults to drink more alcohol. It is an attempt by the government to boost the economy and to overcome a sobering population crisis exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

The National Tax Agency (NTA) has announced a national business contest called “Sake Viva!” to promote alcohol-drinking in its younger population.

The campaign urges youngsters to come up with business ideas that might help increase demand for Japanese alcoholic drinks, including sake, shochu, awamori, beer, whisky and wine.

The Japanese tax agency has described it a plan that contributes to revitalising the liquor industry and solving problems.

The campaign “Sake Viva!” invites people aged between 20 and 39 to submit innovative ideas for reviving the appeal of alcoholic beverages.

As reported by the Independent, people can submit new proposals for products and designs compatible with the new ways of living and different tastes that have emerged following a slew of lockdowns and Covid restrictions in the last two years.

According to the contest’s page, there is no entry fee to enroll for the competition, which also asks people to suggest new sales methods that use artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and geographical indications (a sign used on products to specify their geographical origin) to improve brand value.

Finalists in the competition will be selected by September 27, which will be followed by another round in October. The results of this unique project are expected to be announced on November 10 in Tokyo.

According to NTA, data shows that Japanese were drinking less in 2020, after the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic as compared to the year 1995. In 1995, people were consuming 100 litres (22 gallons) of alcohol and now, alcohol drinking is down to 75 litres (16 gallons).

Japan is holding an open competition to figure out how to get people to buy more alcohol. Residents are not happy about it.

Matthew Loh
Fri, August 19, 2022 

A young man wearing a kimono swigs from a bottle of champagne as he celebrates after attending a Coming of Age ceremony at Yokohama Arena on January 10, 2022 in Yokohama, Japan.

Carl Court/Getty Images

Japan recently announced a competition for ideas on how to get people to buy more alcohol.


The campaign has been criticized heavily online for promoting unhealthy habits.


Three Japanese residents told Insider they felt it would lead to long-term problems in society.

Japan's recent campaign urging people to drink up has sparked an outcry online, with citizens criticizing it as a short-sighted plan that encourages unhealthy habits for the sake of a bump in alcohol taxes.

The "Sake Viva!" campaign, run by Japan's National Tax Agency, is holding an open competition for young people to submit ideas on how to boost the sales of alcohol consumption — and thereby liquor tax revenues.

It's aimed at reviving the country's alcohol industry, which has suffered because of the country's aging population and lifestyle changes from the COVID-19 pandemic, its website said.

But so far, the campaign isn't off to a great start. As of Friday evening Tokyo time, the hashtag #SakeViva had been populated by dozens of posts, many of them in Japanese, bashing the campaign.

"Staying away from alcohol is a good thing. Do you want to go that far to take the liquor tax?" one user tweeted.

"Even if tax revenues rise a little, our medical expenses will explode," wrote Mikiko Kaneko, a freelance writer who goes by the Twitter handle @fukuuchi_ayano.

Kaneko, a 48-year-old freelance writer in Niigata city, told Insider she previously struggled with alcoholism but quit drinking for a second time in February. She said she started drinking heavily when she was younger partially because alcohol is often framed positively in Japan. She bashed the practice as "cultural brainwashing."

"In Japan, commercials for sake are usually played and you can buy alcohol freely at any time, so most people actually don't think of alcohol as a bad thing," she said.

"I think Sake Viva has made it clear that Japan is far behind in terms of awareness of alcohol among developed countries," she said.

Kazuma, another Japanese citizen who voiced his concern online, told Insider sake is especially popular among his peers because it's cheap. A 16-ounce can of sake containing 9% alcohol will retail in Japan for about $1.35, said the 28-year-old radiographer, who uses the handle @yanabuchiyanabu.

"I think it's impossible to justify the campaign," the Kyushu resident said. "If alcohol tax sales have declined, then the state should revise the tax rate and tax those who consume more alcohol to prevent alcohol dependence. I think this campaign will create a lot of diseases."

Manabu Ozawa, a basic medical sciences professor at a national university in Tokyo in his mid-40s, said it was "unbelievable" that a national government agency would spend money to promote something detrimental to its citizens' health.

"You can imagine how stupid it would be if the National Tax Agency were to launch a campaign to encourage young people to smoke cigarettes because cigarette tax revenues have fallen," he told Insider.

The National Tax Agency told The Japan Times it's promoting alcohol sales because fewer young people are drinking due to COVID-19 and a shrinking population. It described the initiative as a business promotion and said that "in no way is it encouraging people to drink excessively." The National Tax Agency did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

This isn't the first time Japan has launched a pro-drinking campaign. In 2017, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry encouraged office workers to leave work early on the last Friday of every month, in a bid to relieve Japan's overworked employees. One of its suggested activities in lieu of working that day was "getting the gang together for some relaxed night drinking," according to Japan Today. The campaign failed to take off, getting only 11% of employees to leave the office early, the outlet reported.

Cambodian refugee who came to US as 1-year-old is deported after no pardon from California Gov. Newsom




Ryan General
Fri, August 19, 2022

A 48-year-old reformed inmate who served 25 years in prison was deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Cambodia on Tuesday.

Phoeun You, a former child refugee from Cambodia, was sent back to a country he is barely familiar with after failing to get a pardon from California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Such a pardon would have allowed him to stay in the U.S., where his family has stayed for decades since fleeing the Khmer Rouge when he was a 1-year-old child.

Having faced discrimination as a child, You joined a gang when he was 13 for protection while living in Long Beach. At age 20, he shot and killed a 17-year-old while retaliating against a gang attack on a young member of his family. He was convicted of first-degree murder by a jury trial and sentenced to 35 years to life.

After decades of serving his sentence, You said he had changed and was ready to be with his family and give back to the community.

While in prison, You became a founding member of the restorative justice program Restoring Our Original True Selves, served as a counselor with Bay Area Women Against Rape and mentored other detained refugees from Asia.

“He shouldn’t be deported because he had already served his time and being deported is basically another life sentence,” said community advocate Somdeng Danny Thongsy. “During my time at San Quentin, he actually mentored me a lot, and he was one of my facilitators in the trauma therapy class which helped me explore my trauma. And because of that, I was able to heal from that.”

You was deemed safe for early release by the San Quentin Prison parole board and pardoned in January. However, he was handed over to ICE agents upon his release.

For months, the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and other advocates have been urging Newsom to grant You a pardon and stop his deportation.

You's eldest brother, James Bunyou, lamented how Newsom “chose not to" intervene on You’s behalf.

"He isn't listening to our community outcry,” he was quoted as saying. “Our family would like to thank all of the friends that came out to support him and fight for Phoeun to stay."

Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus’ immigrant rights lawyer So Young Lee, who represents You, said, "Phoeun should be home with his family, not deported to a country he escaped as a child."

In response, Newsom's office said in a statement: "Information regarding pardon applications is confidential and we're not able to discuss individual cases. The Governor regards clemency as an important part of the criminal justice system and all applications receive a thorough and careful review."

You’s supporters are still hopeful that Newsom could eventually pardon him, which would allow him to return to the U.S. and be with his family.

“I’m still right here with you,” You said upon his arrival in Cambodia. “It’s not over until it’s over and we’re going to keep going.”

Featured Image via Ear Hustle Podcast, Gavin Newsom

Cambodia says it's helping foreigners scammed by traffickers


In this photo released by the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau, police officers from the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau search the bodies of two suspect who were deported from Bangkok and believed to be involved in scam cases in Cambodia as they arrive back at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. Taiwan is seeking to free more than 300 of its citizens lured to Cambodia by organized crime groups promising high wages for tech jobs, but then forcing them into call centers aiming to scam mainland Chinese into making payments for non-existent government fees or investment opportunities. (Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau via AP)More

SOPHENG CHEANG
Fri, August 19, 2022 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia on Friday said it is attempting to aid foreigners who have been victimized by human traffickers, after Taiwan said it is seeking to free more than 300 of its citizens who were lured to the Southeast Asian nation by organized crime groups.

The mostly well-educated young people were promised high wages for tech jobs, but then were forced to work in call centers, scamming mainly mainland Chinese into making payments for non-existent government fees or investment opportunities.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng said his ministry is launching a nationwide check of all foreigners living in Cambodia, aside from embassy personnel. He said it will search especially for foreigners who have been victimized by human traffickers.

He said police in two provinces, Kandal and Preah Sihanoukville, on Thursday checked the status of foreigners residing or working at hotels, rented properties and casinos.


Sar Kheng said several people were arrested on suspicion of organizing human trafficking and some apparent victims were taken into protection. Police were still trying to determine whether those who said they were victims were telling the truth, he said.

Sar Kheng did not specify how many people were rounded up or what their nationalities were, but confirmed that some foreigners told police that they had been attracted by what was portrayed as lawful jobs offering high salaries.

Upon arriving in Cambodia, however, they were forced to work illegally in jobs that were “not what they had agreed to," Sar Kheng said.

Separately, Deputy National Police chief Gen. Chhay Sinarith said in recent years Cambodian authorities have uncovered numerous illegal online schemes that lured illegal workers, and have arrested hundreds of people from China and Taiwan for involvement.

Scammers, mainly from China, have used Cambodia as a base for extorting money, Chhay Sinarith said.

Taiwan’s government on Friday said 333 of its citizens were stuck in Cambodia after being lured by crime groups promising high wages for tech jobs, based on reports from families asking for help. The situation is complicated further because Cambodia is a close ally of China and refuses to recognize Taiwan or have any official contacts with the government in Taipei.

Taiwanese media have been reporting extensively on the plight of those trapped by the networks. Police at Taiwan's main Taoyuan International Airport have been patrolling with signs warning of the dangers of bogus offers of high salaries in Southeast Asia.

Taiwanese authorities have also been reaching out to travel agencies to uncover the scams, and more than a dozen people have been arrested over recruitment schemes that aimed to dupe young people into jobs advertised as high-paying positions in computer engineering and similar fields.

It has also become a political issue, with the minority Nationalist Party accusing the governing Democratic Progressive Party of inaction on the matter. Premier Su Tseng-chang has called for diplomatic outreach and a crackdown on local criminal groups organizing the scams.

Nationalist Deputy Secretary General Lee Yen-hsiu said more public outreach is necessary to deal with the phony job offers.

The Mormon church set up a help line for child sex abuse. Many calls were funneled to the church's lawyers, who 'snuff out' reports: report

Lloyd Lee
Fri, August 19, 2022 

The Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A new report from The Associated Press reveals how the church let officials get away with years of sexual abuse.Patrick Semansky/AP

An AP investigation revealed how the Mormon church facilitated silence about sex abuse.

A father disclosed to a bishop that he sexually abused his five-year-old daughter.

The bishop called the church's "help line" and was told to keep the report secret.

A "help line" established by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was used to bury a report of sex abuse that continued for at least seven years, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The report outlined how the Mormon Abuse Help Line could divert serious accusations of abuse away from law enforcement and to church attorneys based in a Salt Lake City law firm. As the case plays out this month, it has called into question what information shared with a member of the clergy is protected.

One Arizona-based bishop, John Herrod, called the line after he learned a 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by her father, Paul Douglas Adams. Attorneys would tell the bishop that he was legally required to keep the abuse secret because he learned of the actions during a "spiritual confession," according to The AP.

"They said, 'You absolutely can do nothing,'" Herrod said in a recorded interview with law enforcement reviewed by The AP.

Church officials also claimed that Arizona's clergy-penitent privilege required the bishops to keep the abuse confidential even though the state's sex abuse reporting law requires the clergy to report it to authorities.

The exception to the rule is if the clergy learned of the abuse during confession. They can choose to "withhold" information if they determine it is "reasonable and necessary" under church doctrine, The AP reported.

The daughter, who is only referred to as MJ in The AP, was abused for at least seven more years. And Adams went on to abuse his second infant daughter. He also frequently posted videos of the abuse online.

The AP report relied on about 12,000 pages of sealed records in an unrelated child sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon church in West Virginia to detail how the secretive system worked.

Employees had a list of questions to follow to determine whether a report was serious enough to be directed to a Salt Lake City law firm Kirton McConkie.

One instruction said that employees should tell bishops to encourage the victim, perpetrator, or witnesses to report the abuse. But another stated to "never advise a priesthood leader to report abuse. Counsel of this nature should come only from legal counsel," The AP reported, citing a sample of the protocol instructions.

Records and notes of the calls were also destroyed at the end of the day, one director who works in the church's Department of Family Services told the publication.

Three of Adams' children filed a lawsuit against two Arizona bishops and church leaders in Salt Lake City for negligence in not reporting the abuse.

"The Mormon Church implements the Helpline not for the protection and spiritual counseling of sexual abuse victims...but for (church) attorneys to snuff out complaints and protect the Mormon Church from potentially costly lawsuits," the lawsuit filed by the Adams' children alleged, according to The AP.

An Arizona judge ruled on August 8 that the church will have to cooperate with the lawsuit after it initially refused to turn over records for Adams, and after a church official cited clergy-penitent privilege to avoid answering questions during pre-trial testimony, The AP reported.

Judge Laura Cardinal ruled that Adams waived the privilege to keep his confessions secret by posting photos of the abuse online and when he confessed to his actions to Homeland Security agents in 2017. Adams was arrested after New Zealand authorities found one of the videos online. The father died by suicide while in custody.

Lawyers defending the bishops and church told The AP that they acted in accordance with the law and "religious principles."

The Mormon church has also said The AP story "seriously mischaracterized" the purpose of the church's help line.

"The help line is instrumental in ensuring that all legal requirements for reporting are met. It provides a place for local leaders, who serve voluntarily, to receive direction from experts to determine who should make a report and whether they (local leaders) should play a role in that reporting," the church wrote.

The help line was established in the mid-'90s, during a time when reports of sexual abuse cases were increasing and outcomes in lawsuits often awarded millions of dollars in damages toward victims, according to The AP.

The church has not responded to Insider's request for comment.

Video shows orca appearing to attack 

another killer whale at SeaWorld, 

prompting PETA complaint to USDA

Joshua Zitser

Sat, August 20, 2022

A screenshot of footage shows an orca attempting to beach itself while being attacked by another killer whale.PETA US

• Eyewitness footage shows an orca attacked by another killer whale at SeaWorld.

• Following the release of the footage, PETA called on the USDA to investigate SeaWorld.

• SeaWorld described the behavior as normal, adding that it was "rake marking."

Eyewitness footage from a SeaWorld visitor shows an orca violently attacking another killer whale on August 5, prompting PETA to file a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture.

The person who recorded the footage told PETA that everyone "immediately saw blood soaking the water" at the amusement park in San Diego, California, causing their nine-year-old to start crying.

The eyewitness also said that people could see bite marks and wounds over one side of the hurt orca. "Every couple seconds two more orcas would jump out of the water to continue attacking the hurt orca," the eyewitness said, per a PETA press release.

 

In the video, which PETA shared with Insider, an orca can be seen attempting to beach itself to get away from its attacker. A child can be heard saying: "How is it still alive? I thought they hug each other, not fight each other."

Following the release of the footage, PETA filed a complaint with the USDA. The complaint calls on the USDA to investigate SeaWorld, citing concerns regarding animal welfare. It asks the agency to "ensure that all animals at SeaWorld are being provided with adequate veterinary care, space, shelter, food, and water," and are handled in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act.

PETA said in a statement that it was a warning to families to stay away from any park that "imprisons orcas or other animals."

SeaWorld did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but according to the local media outlet KPBS, the company said PETA's attack was "misleading."

KPBS reported that SeaWorld described the behavior as normal, adding that it was "rake marking" — when killer whales run their teeth over each other's skin.

SeaWorld's treatment of killer whales in captivity drew attention following the release of the 2013 documentary film "Blackfish."

Confederate Festival in Brazilian town where US exiles from the South founded a slave-owning colony after the Civil War faces ban, report says

Joshua Zitser
Sat, August 20, 2022 

People stand in traditional outfits between dances at the annual Festa Confederada, or Confederate Festival, on April 24, 2016.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

A festival celebrating the Confederacy is celebrated annually in rural Sao Paulo in Brazil.

It's held in a town where Confederate supporters fled after the Civil War and founded a slave-owning colony.

A new municipal law on hate symbols could end the festival, per The Christian Science Monitor.

A new municipal law could mark the end of an annual celebration of the Confederacy in rural Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

Festa Confederada, or Confederate Festival, has been taking place in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste for the past four decades, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Thousands of defeated Confederates went into exile in Brazil, unwilling to abide by the Union's victory and consequent emancipation of enslaved Black people, and set up a colony nearby Santa Bárbara d'Oeste.

They bought hundreds of slaves who they forced to labor for them on cotton fields until 1888 when Brazil became the last nation in the Americas to ban slavery.

Now, on the site of a cemetery for the colony, the descendants of the American Confederates host an annual festival.

People in period costumes visit a settler's grave in the American Cemetery during the annual Festa Confederada, or Confederate Festival, in 2016.Mario Tama/Getty Images

The festival includes men and women dancing in period costumes to country music. Attendees use "Confederate dollars" to buy chicken and biscuits, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

There are Confederate flags, including one of the world's largest, on display at the festival, per The Washington Post.

People dance on a Confederate flag at the annual Festa Confederada, or Confederate Festival, in Brazil.Mario Tama/Getty Images

But a municipal law, which bans the use of racist symbols at public festivals, could end the festivities, according to the paper. A justification for the legislation passed last month specifically named the festival, per The Christian Science Monitor.

The head of the Fraternidade Descendência Americana, a group that represents the descendants of Confederate families, told the paper that he opposes the new law because he believes the Confederate flag does not represent slavery. "For us, the Confederate flag carries the symbolism of resistance to tyranny," said João Padovez, per The Christian Science Monitor.

A monument to Confederate settlers in Santa Barbara d'Oeste, Brazil.Mario Tama/Getty Images

But activist Cláudia Monteiro da Rocha Ramos told the paper that the local chapter of Unegro, an anti-racism organization, is proposing that Confederate flags are replaced with the modern-day US flag.

"After Charlottesville, [the US] debate about the flag resonated in Brazil," she said, per The Christian Science Monitor. Unegro started mobilizing after the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, The Washington Post reported.

At the last Confederate Festival in 2019, the last one held because of COVID-19 cancelations, dozens of protesters gathered nearby to perform Afro-Brazilian dances, per The Christian Science Monitor.

Twitter Users Give Steve Bannon Hell For Calling Democrat John Fetterman 'Satanic'

David Moye

Thu, August 18, 2022

Former White House strategist and Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon is getting hell from Twitter users for accusing Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman of having a satanic “vibe.”

On the conservative social media platform Gettr, Bannon shared a pearl-clutching link from the right-wing Washington Free Beacon that suggested Fetterman was part of a “Democratic Grooming Scandal” because his family was once photographed next to a person dressed as an anime character.

Bannon then accused Fetterman of exuding “pure evil.”

“Is Fetterman satanic??…his look,his vibe , his associations … has there been anyone in the history of the country that exudes more just pure evil than this guy …the Citizens of the Commonwealth need to ask themselves— do we want someone who hangs with Satanic Groomers to represent us in the US Senate.”

Bannon is known for things like calling for “4,000 shock troops” to “deconstruct” the federal government “brick by brick,” and many people were skeptical that his claims came from a sincere place.

Some Twitter users saw desperation, not the devil.

One person thought that Bannon was targeting Fetterman for a different reason altogether.

And others thought it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Although there is no evidence that Fetterman is satanic, Republicans like Bannon and Fetterman’s Senate opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, are having a devil of a time trying to beat him in the polls.

Fetterman currently leads Oz by 8.7 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.com.

BANNON DELIBERATELY CONFUSED FETTERMAN WITH ANTON LAVEY