Showing posts with label James Sears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Sears. Show all posts

Monday, November 16, 2020

Pro-Terror Neo-Nazi Attending Toronto Anti-Lockdown Protests

Toronto has been a focal point for protests against mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as against government lock downs. It's also been a hot spot for new COVID cases which I'm sure is just a coincidence, but I digress. 

We have covered the Toronto COVID protests on the blog before, which focused on some of the far-right patriots and neo-Nazis that were attending, as well as some of the racist/Islamphobic social media history of prominent anti-masker Chris Saccoccia.

Some of the far-right attendees of Toronto anti-mask protests include neo-Nazis Tomas Liko and Paul Fromm,  hate rag Your Ward News editor James Sears, Toronto agitator Lily, Chris Vanderweide and Leigh Stuart, and anti-muslim vlogger Kevin Johnston. 

Fringe extreme right involvement is not limited to Toronto. Some of the Vancouver rallies were partially organized by neo-Nazi Brian Ruhe. Antisemitic Holocaust denier David Icke spoke at a Vancouver rally on October 17 and 18. 

Recently we discovered that someone who subscribes to a far more alarming neo-Nazi belief system has been attending COVID rallies in Toronto and is tied to at least one organizer. The unfortunately named Michael Bolton has used multiple social media platforms to express his support for neo-Nazism, including the accelerationist network Atomwaffen Division.

Background photo is the logo of the Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists



Facebook description mentions the Boogaloo movement



Bolton regularly expresses support for Atomwaffen, a violent neo-Nazi accelerationist organization which originated on the Iron March forum. Northern Order is a Canadian-based cell of Atomwaffen. 1488 is of course a reference to the white supremacist 14 words and 88 is code for Heil Hitler.

It isn't clear whether Bolton is or was a member of Northern Order, though he has posted about the group favourably: 




Mike Bolton interviewed by David Menzies of The Rebel at an anti-mask rally. Mother Joanne MacFarlane on the left and one of his brothers on the right.  


Mike comes from what one could easily described as a right-wing family. Members of his family post far-right content on Facebook including support for QAnon and The Proud Boys, but not going so far as showing support for neo-Nazism, though the majority don't seem bothered by Bolton's views. Their trips to anti-mask rallies are clearly a family outing. 

His mother, Joanne MacFarland, and his father, Dave Bolton, as well as siblings Andrew and Colin all attend the rallies with Bolton. 


Bolton's family members en route to a rally from Newmarket, ON 

Maxime Bernier posing with three members of the Bolton family; Andrew and Colin in the back

Bolton's father Dave Bolton

Dave Bolton regularly reposts fringe right content, including posts supportive of the Proud Boys, an extremist, violent group which, after the election, descended on Washington, DC and attacked people at the so-called Million MAGA March. 


Bolton has also shared QAnon propaganda: 


Bolton's mother Joanne has posted anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic content, as well as support for the violent Proud Boys:  



And posts supporting violence against their political opposition: 


Including memes referencing Pinochet -- the Chilean dictator who became infamous for his men throwing communists from helicopters. 


Mike's brother Andrew Bolton also being interviewed by David Menzies of The Rebel


Mike's brother Colin Bolton , pictured on his Facebook with Chris Saccoccia


In such a far-right wing family it's not surprising that at least one of them has turned to overt neo-Nazi beliefs. That said Mike's social media use is much more concerning than what can easily be found from the others. 

"Day of the Rake," a play on "Day of the Rope," referencing when the US will invade Canada 

Holocaust denial posted by Mike Bolton



Bolton's Gab account, showing violent antisemitic content 

Bolton's Gab, referencing support for both the Yellow Vests and Killdozer, who has become a far-right meme

Bolton's Minds account

What is interesting about Mike Bolton's Facebook account, is that he's friends with a few other anti-maskers, one of whom is an administrator and organizer for MAD (Mother's Against Distancing) the group started by Chris Saccoccia. 

Omari Taylor is very involved in Toronto's anti-mask events. Strangely enough Mike Bolton is not his only neo-Nazi friend on Facebook.

Gus Stefanis was a candidate for the neo-Nazi Canadian Nationalist Party and Lily Musa (AKA Peter Smith) is a supporter.

Even when Omari was shown evidence for past racist comments made by Chris Saccoccia he chose to downplay and ignore them.


These comments were made on an anti-mask spoof page

I'm not one to judge who someone calls a friend, but would it be out of line to suggest that maybe it's not in Omari's best interest to be surrounding himself with so many neo-Nazis?



His call I suppose.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020

James Sears Distributing Flyers Claiming Covid-19 Pandemic is a Satanic Hoax

A year after being sentenced to a year in prison for distributing hate via the antisemitic and misogynistic Your Ward News in a Toronto court, James Sears is distributing flyers in a Toronto neighbourhood. 


The flyer dropped off at a Toronto restaurant on St. Clair West, submitted via a tip
from a community member

A tip submitted by a member of the community advised us that the flyer was dropped off to a business on St. Clair West, in Toronto. It was confirmed that Sears, dressed in all black, delivered it himself. The flyer, which details how Sears believes Covid-19 to be a "globalist" hoax, makes the claims that zero people have died from Covid-19, masks are ineffective at preventing the spread of the virus, and indicated it was "satanic." 

Sears goes on to accuse Toronto mayor John Tory of forcing masks due to being a "satanist who rejects the Christian trinity" and participates in "ritual masking." 

Sears' use of "globalists" is explicitly antisemitic; on his website, which we've blacked out on the flyer, he writes about the "Zionist-Marxist Globalists." Sears claims his politics "incorporates the intellect of Dr. Ron Paul, the heart of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and the soul of Jesus Christ, into one powerful political Chimera that will crush the Marxist beast."

It might be tempting to consider that Sears has hopped on the QAnon train, but he's written about his ideas of "satanic armies of Marxism" before. 

It will be interesting to see if Sears participates in any of the anti-lockdown protests in the city (where his good friend Paul Fromm is already a staple) and whether he gloms onto the larger anti-mask movement, which has found a foothold in Toronto. 

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Thursday, August 29, 2019

YWN Sentencing Update: St. Germaine gets 1 year House Arrest, Sears out on Bail

After James Sears was led away in handcuffs last week, the sentencing of LeRoy St. Germaine to one year house arrest for promoting hatred against women and Jews is anti-climactic at best. While he received the maximum one year penalty (6 months/count), he avoided jail time because, according to Justice Blouin, his Indigenous heritage and poor health (heart and lung problems) needed to be taken into account. He added that "although Mr. St. Germaine was aware of the content of Your Ward News as edited by Sears, there is no evidence he created any of it.” St. Germaine also expressed regret about the direction the paper took after Sears came on board. Previously it went after "dirty politicians" and St. Germaine said he would like that to become the focus once again. 

 While I appreciate the validity of some of the mitigating factors in this case, I don't believe justice was served in deciding St. Germaine should avoid jail time altogether. His lack of respect for Your Ward News' victims is striking. When offered the option of a sentencing circle, he declined because he did not want to apologize. Outside of court today, when asked what he would say to his victims, he stated they should "suck it up and get over it." 

 
Then, of course, likening Sears to Christ and saying the paper will be back blows any assertion of St. Germaine's regret or desire to distance himself from Sears out of the water: 




And while St. Germaine evidently didn't write any of the hateful material that's in violation of S319(2) of the criminal code, as publisher, he had the final say in whether to print those words and images. I believe that responsibility should carry more weight in Justice Blouin's courtroom. 

As St. Germaine begins organizing his appeal, Sears' is already underway and he is out on a mere $500 bail. His bail conditions include taking Your Ward News offline, refraining from contacting any of his victims, and, the most challenging for Sears, not making any public statements. His new lawyer, criminal defence attorney Ian McCuaig, will have quite the challenge in convincing the court that Sears' conviction and sentence was arbitrary, politically motivated, and "too harsh." 

EDIT 1: Ian McCuaig acted as St. Germaine's attorney for the initial trial and sentencing. Obviously Sears liked the work he did enough to retain him for the appeal. It is unknown whether McCuaig will continue to act for St. Germaine as well. A preliminary investigation did not show McCuaig having any obvious racist or far right sympathies. However, more digging will be done to confirm.

At the time of writing, it is unknown whether Sears and St. Germaine's appeals will be heard together or when the appeals will begin. However, it is clear that for their victims, closure is still months away.

You can read the full background of this sentencing circus below:
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Saturday, August 24, 2019

A Yellow Vester, a Hatriot, and a Neo-Nazi Walk Into a Bar...

...Not really, but they did go live on Facebook.

Shortly after Your Ward News editor James Sears was sentenced to one year in prison for his role in distributing the virulently antisemitic, misogynistic, and homophobic hate rag, Derek Storie of the Yellow Vests and Ed Jamnisek of Northern Guard thought interviewing neo-nazi Paul Fromm would be a good use of their time.


Nice of Ed to brush his hair for the occasion.  

The three chatted about all sorts of "patriotic" things, like how you can't be antisemitic anymore:



Fromm's opinion that Maxime Bernier's Peoples' Party of Canada will get rid of hate speech laws: 


Given Fromm's support for the PPC platform, the fact he thinks this will actually happen isn't surprising. 

Fromm even went as far as to use standard white nationalist talking points, reiterated by Jamnisek who complains "if you're questioning who rules you, who can you not criticize?" 


Also of interest here is Storie including himself when referencing their belief that "white people are outnumbered," given that he repeatedly claims to be indigenous, stated he was Metis earlier in the video, and insists that his vlogging under the name "Noble Savages" is a reference to his heritage. 

Anyway, they continue on with Ed asking if civil war is imminent. Fromm is careful with what he says, but does express a lot of support for the Yellow Vests:



Poor Paulie

That said, he certainly has participated in Yellow Vest rallies before, but has reportedly been asked to stop coming around, since we covered it. 

Paul Fromm with Hamilton Yellow Vest organizer Justin Long, earlier this year. 

Fromm insists "we are at war," and is confident that such "free speech advocates" as himself would be thrown into a gulag or camp. We can think of a few places Fromm can go, but it's neither of those. We'll leave such monstrous ideas to those who pal around with Blood and Honour, Combat 18, and the Aryan Guard. 


Derek Storie is still somehow not aware of Paul Fromm's affiliations, or the affiliations of those he spends time with, such as the Canadian Nationalist Party: 


About that... 




Who's going to tell Derek? 


Ed provides an extremely watered down primer on who Paul Fromm is, including the indication that he's somehow NOT a holocaust denier:


Huh...

I suppose we can't blame Ed, given Paulie's very convincing attempts to portray himself as a run-of-the-mill free speech dude. 



I can't imagine where we'd get that idea. 




We leave you with not a nazi or a holocaust denier (heh) but definitely a very large baby Paul Fromm's thoughts on the sentence: 


Sure, Paulie. 


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Friday, August 23, 2019

Anna Slatz of "The Post Millennial" Once Ran Uncritical Profile of Self-professed Nazi as Editor of a New Brunswick University Student News Paper

When it comes to right-wing media in Canada "The Post Millennial" has become an increasingly important source cited by conservative politicians, conservative pundits, your angry uncle insisting taxation is theft during Thanksgiving dinner, the lady who shows up to Parliament Hill at 1:00 am to scream at tourists about chem trails, and the numerous online sites this blog monitors. Although touting itself as a news source, the reality seems to be that it is by and large a propaganda network that helps to promote conspiracy theories and right wing talking points.


On August 22 Emma McIntosh of "The National Observer" (click here to support them financially) published a story that profiles the editor of "The Post Millennial" Cosmin Dzsurdzsa who readers might know best as Lindsay Shepherd's boo:


In the article McIntosh traced Dzsurdzsa's career working for a pro-Putin "Russian Insider" and before then as a creative director and correspondent with "Free Bird Media" which some people may have first heard about regarding a controversy involving an Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate:



ARC has discussed FBM a number of times, though my personal favourite article was the pissing match between Ronny Cameron and FBM's Alex Van Hamme:
Anti-Racist Canada, putting the "c" in classy headlines since 2007.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dzsurdzsa deigned to turn his eye toward this lil' blog on the Interweb on at least one occasion:

I feel seen!

But at the same time Emma McIntosh was looking into Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, ARC happened to be looking at another figure within "The Post Millennial" universe:


Anna Slatz has been writing for "The Post Millennial" for 7 months. Though she suggests her politics run to the left, her articles seemed focused on critiquing progressive activists, politicians, and academics as well her more recent preoccupation with the very troubled (and perhaps mentally ill) Jessica Yaniv. Slatz was also the writer who promoted the conspiracy theory that the Talya Davidson story, which ARC commented on last week, was a Liberal plot to damage the Conservative Party prior to the election:


More recently Slatz was in Portland, Oregon ostensibly to report on the Patriot Prayer protest and massive counter-protest pushing the narrative that "antifa" were a violent and uncontrollable mob, a narrative that Andy Ngo certainly approved of:


That being said we've know Ngo to play fast and loose with the truth so.... maybe take his praise with a grain of salt?






It is prior to Slatz's involvement with "The Post Millennial" that is of interest to this writer however:


Michael Thurlow is a spectacularly marginal figure even for the far right in Canada. ARC has only written about him once and that was in relation to.... wait for it.... a pissing match with Kevin "No Show" Goudreau (see a pattern here folks?).  However there was a moment in early 2018 when Thurlow's National Socialist Labour Revival Party made the mainstream news:

Don't worry though. Thurlow isn't a Nazi according to Jonathan Kay:


Except that he is TOTALLY a Nazi:


Thurlow also got him some love from now former Acadia University professor Rick Mehta:



It is at this point that Anna Slatz, who once went by the name Anna de Luca, comes in. At the time Thurlow's flyers were being posted around the UNB campus, Slatz was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, "The Baron" which is a position she appears to have held for less than a month by that point. In that position, Slatz published an op-ed by Thurlow as well as an uncritical interview where none of his racist statements were challenged.
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