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The Proud Boys Just Lost Use of Their Own Name in the Funniest Way

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tuesday

The Proud Boys have lost the legal rights to their name to a Black church they attacked.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Tanya Bosier ruled Monday that the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church now owns the name and symbols of the violent white nationalist hate group, The New York Times reported.

The ruling is the outcome of an incident in December 2020. Fresh off a Supreme Court decision rejecting Texas’s bid to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election for Donald Trump, the Proud Boys took to the streets of Washington, where a violent confrontation with counterprotesters broke out.

During their march, members of the Proud Boys, including their leader, Enrique Tarrio, trespassed onto the church’s property and set its Black Lives Matter banner ablaze. Tarrio was arrested on vandalism charges on January 4 and was consequently not present for the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol just days later. He was still sentenced with seditious conspiracy for helping plan the riot.

In June 2023, D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz ruled that the destruction of property at Metropolitan AME had been “highly orchestrated” and “hateful and overtly racist conduct,” and granted a $2.8 million default judgment against the Proud Boys—but the group never handed over the money.

Lawyers for the church then sought to satisfy that judgment by having the group hand over something of value: its name. The decision bars the Proud Boys from selling any merchandise with its name or associated symbols without the express permission of the church.

Tarrio, who was serving a 22-year sentence until Donald Trump pardoned him last month, was less than thrilled about the decision. He said in a statement that the judge should be impeached, and that the church should forfeit its nonprofit status.

“Their actions are a betrayal of justice,” Tarrio wrote in his statement. “I hold in contempt any motions, judgments and orders issued against me.”

In an interview with Alex Jones shortly after being released from prison, Tarrio promised “retribution” for Trump supporters being imprisoned for their crimes related to the January 6 riot.

“We’ve got to do everything in our power to make sure that the next four years sets us up for the next 100 years,” Tarrio said.

Yet another Trump appointee is in bed with white nationalists.

On Monday, President Trump nominated Joe Kent as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

“Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life. Above all, Joe knows the terrible cost of terrorism, losing his wonderful wife, Shannon, a Great American Hero, who was killed in the fight against ISIS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Joe continues to honor her legacy by staying in the fight. Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism, from the jihadists around the World, to the cartels in our backyard.”

Kent’s nomination immediately raised alarm, as multiple people pointed to reporting from years ago documenting his very real connections to extremist groups.  

Kent, who previously challenged Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state in the August 2 primary, has “courted prominent white nationalists and posed recently for a photograph with a media personality who has previously described Adolf Hitler as a ‘complicated historical figure’ who ‘many people misunderstand,’” the Associated Press reported in 2022.

The media personality in question was none other than online white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who endorsed Kent’s congressional campaign in 2022. That same year, campaign finance disclosures showed that Kent paid known Proud Boy and formerly convicted stalker Graham Jorgensen $11,375 for “consulting.” Oath Keeper Wendy Rogers endorsed Kent, and Christian nationalist Joey Gibson spoke at one of his fundraisers.

These relationships are not coincidental. Kent shares many of the same hateful ideologies with these people.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with there being a white people special interest group,” he said in an interview with the American Populist Union.

Kent will likely bring these views and more to the counterterrorism position if confirmed by the Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee voted to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for secretary of health and human services Tuesday in a narrow 14–13 vote, with every Republican voting for the nomination and every Democrat voting against it.

Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican and medical doctor, announced his support for Kennedy Tuesday morning in a shocking X post after previously being open about his reservations. Kennedy has a reputation as a staunch anti-vaxxer, and Cassidy had urged the nominee to disavow comments that vaccines cause autism, which has been thoroughly debunked.

Now Kennedy’s nomination will go to the full Senate, where he will likely be confirmed, as no Senate Republicans have publicly spoken out against him despite numerous allegations of sexual abuse, including a new revelation Monday that he paid nearly $1 million to settle a sexual misconduct claim from an employee at his anti-vaccination nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, in 2020.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has been a staunch opponent of Kennedy’s nomination, attacking his wishy-washy views on abortion and........

© New Republic


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