Nouns of Odin, Now Re-Branded The Clann, Harass Edmonton Mosque Worshipers and Local Businesses

You know, it I once thought that making fun of the Aryan Guard/Blood & Honour name change as well as the rather lengthy and ostentatious Steven Blah Blah Myatt was sort of funny in my own "I'm-secretly-a-two-year-old" way.

But, my god!

In Edmonton we now have the Soldiers of Odin/Wolves of Odin/Odin's Heathens/Patriot Pride Canada/Canadian Infidels/The Clann.

These people change their groups' names more frequently then they change their underwear.

In any case, there was a "big" announcement earlier this month as members of the Wolves of Odin joined up with Ryan Dean (who I again remind readers is fairly recently off house arrest after being convicted of assaulting a former girlfriend) and his Clann which as one observer noted is a little on the nose:

And because everything Ryan Dean touches eventually collapses as a result of his profoundly toxic behavior, the seeds of infighting appear to already be present:

Prior to this though, the Nouns of Odin had been a regular presence at the reactionary Yellow Vest events in the city. For now though they have decided that a good look for them would be to harass people worshiping at a mosque and local businesses:

Gee. Tyson is being photographed giving the middle finger. How edgy and totally original of you.

First they harassed members at a mosque. It would be bad enough had they done so outside, but they sort of upped the ante and entered the building:

A spokesperson for the mosque said members of the Wolves of Odin group  attempted to “provoke” the people inside: "You don’t come inside the mosque with a toque that says infidel on it … Our No. 1 priority was to ensure our people here feel safe." #yeg https://t.co/aK2WhOpTor

— The Star Edmonton (@thestaredmonton) January 26, 2019

I grew up going to Al-Rashid. My dads funeral started at Al-Rashid. A mosque by the same name was the first mosque in Canada.

It makes me angry seeing these smug smile while they intimidate the community I grew up in. #yeg pic.twitter.com/4YRCAv0W5m

— Bashir Mohamed (@BashirMohamed) January 26, 2019

Patriot Prayer biker gang knockoff "The Clann" (formerly Wolves of Odin, formerly Soldiers of Odin) were walking around Edmonton today looking for fights & harassing Muslims outside a mosque. they literally call themselves "clannsmen". be safe #YEG pic.twitter.com/SHBhpZQ8hr

— Bob Nesta Makhno 🌹♎🏴 (@GilletteMachNo) January 26, 2019

This eventually resulted in a confrontation outside featuring Hunt, Dean, and company as well as two of the most patient men I've observed in these encounters:

The comments left on Tyson Hunt's Facebook page are pretty much as you would expect from the brain trust of the far right:

The goof troop also headed to Whyte Ave to harass people working at two pubs that Hunt describes as "antifa bars" either yesterday or today (the time line is a little up in the air for me right now):

There were two short videos posted prior to entering the two establishments as well as two of the Clann members harassing the people in the businesses that I don't think need to be posted. What was clear from the encounters though was the desire to gin up anger and, perhaps, violence directed at the pub workers as evidenced by the posts left on the videos:

Among those commenting are Beau Welling, leader of the Alberta III% militia as well as Bill Daniels who is a former BC Soldiers of Odin leader as well as the short lived national leader of the racist gang before the collapse as a national organization. He also has his own history of legal troubles.

Gotta say, not a good look for ya'll.

Well, it seems that you are doing your damnest to convince people you're both.

James Sears and LeRoy St. Germaine of Racist Rag Your Ward News Convicted

I'm actually out of town but I figured that this was news worth publishing:

BREAKING: James Sears, editor of neo-Nazi paper Your Ward News, found guilty of hate crimes against women and Jews under S319(2) of the Criminal Code. Judge calls it "unrelenting hate" that more than meets the test for hate speech. #topoli

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) January 24, 2019

VICE: James Sears, Editor of Canada’s Most Racist Paper, Guilty Of Hate Charges https://t.co/xjpMrlpeee

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) January 24, 2019

Judge rules that James Sears and LeRoy St. Germaine are guilty of two counts of wilfully promoting hate towards women and Jews. For the full ruling (pdf) against James Sears and LeRoy St. Germaine, visit: https://t.co/IRu8xgnK3b

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) January 24, 2019

ARC was also sent some photos of the aftermath by a supporter.

Apparently Sears compared himself to Jesus being crucified because of course he did.

Sears and St. Germaine also had supporters who attended:

The woman was a frequent attendee at the Ernst Zundel trials. In the bottom photo the individual on the right appears to be Bahman Yazdanfar (not sure who the neckbeard dude is).

Lawrence McCurry and Arthur Smitherman were present.... they seem upset:

This is my favorite post left on Smitherman's video:

Gotta love the lack of curiosity or willingness to investigate the claim.

Full time Islamophobes Sandra Soloman and Eric Brazau could be seen (and shrilly heard) outside the court house:

UPDATE: Seems that the video Smitherman posted isn't accurate (it might actually be from 2017). Also, ore information from a friend:

Sorry...but there’s an error on the blog. Solomon and Brazau were not outside the courthouse. They were outside the Eaton’s Centre at the south/west corner of Yonge/Dundas. They were protesting against a Muslim organization that sets up shop there everyday (well, they’re always there when I go by, at least) to hand out free copies of the Quran. That particular corner attracts a lot of proselytizers of various sorts. Quran dude (possibly multiple dudes) was always one of the laid back ones in my experience. Brazau and Solomon showing up there with a poster with the Quran dude’s table on it, to protest him/his org directly on the street with their hateful bullshit is incredibly hostile! I’m shocked they weren’t charged with harassment or intimidation or similar.

No word if Paul Fromm was also present, but we're sure to hear from him about this, as well as I'm sure an earnest request to donate money for an appeal; whether or not said money reaches James Sears and LeRoy St. Germaine is a very interesting question.

Yellow Vests Canada Admin Marc "Tyler" Malenfant's Paranoia Disturbing and Enlightening

With news last week that the "slightly" more rational truck convoy to Ottawa was being cancelled, we were left with the (and please forgive my use of arcane jargon) bat-fucking-insane Yellow Vest convoy remaining because what could possibly go wrong with that?

Derek Kaior harrassed Indigenous people & allies rallying in solidarity with #Wetsuweten outside of PM Trudeau's town hall event in St Cath on Tues. he threatened to run them over more than once & did hit 1 person (they're ok), then lied about it to the cops. @VestsCanada pic.twitter.com/EP0Z4pzrsQ

— Bob Nesta Makhno 🌹♎🏴 (@GilletteMachNo) January 21, 2019

In any case, one person who is celebrating is Marc "Tyler" Malenfant who is continuing to push the event on the Facebook group he created:

Malenfant has taken to posting lengthy missives on the Facebook group he administers such as the following in which he (a) encourages people to "yell" at the prime minister whom he accuses of treason (b) appears to encourage a violent revolution and (c) engages in wild conspiracy theories including those found in the discredited PizzaGate and QAnon (such as accusing Trudeau of being a pedophile):

Of course, the claims Malenfant is making regarding why Trudeau is guilty of treason are either lies, mischaracterizations of what he said, and/or divorced from objective reality.

These attributes characterize Malenfant's paranoia as well as many of those who are found in his group. Here are a couple of other examples:

III% Militia: Purveyors of Conspiracies and Mired in Paranoia

Since many of us who are watching developments on the far-right in this country have been focused on the reactionary Yellow Vest protests I thought I would take a look at how other extremists are viewing the movement. There is a great deal of overlap of course as groups and individuals covered on this blog, in some cases for over a decade, gravitate towards the movement. Among those groups are the III% militia, the most active of which are in Quebec and Alberta. Looking at the Alberta page, one sees posts such as this:

Right. Not a hate group.

Such claims are sort of undermined when the Alberta leader posts comments such as this:

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the III% militia would use language like this to describe those whom they disagree with ideologically, nor should anyone be surprised when members who are attracted to the militia also perpetuate ridiculous conspiracy theories without a shred of self-reflection:

I've posted a number of screen shots in the past in which members of the III% militia in Alberta attribute all sort events to dark, nefarious, forces (Muslims, "antifa", George Soros, "Zionists", liberals, "communists", etc). They have continued to claim that forest and grass fires are the result of Jihadists who have training camps throughout northern Canada for example.... though they also deny climate change which may do just a bit more to explain the intensity of said fires. They also frequently claim that any statement by any Muslim at any time and anywhere under any circumstances is a lie:

I somehow have suspicions about the provenience of this screen shot

More recently though they have latched onto the QAnon conspiracy theory to make sense of the world of darkness they have created in their own minds:

The III% militia isn't alone in perpetuating these baseless conspiracies. They are found on the pages of the Canadian Combat Coalition, Northern Guard, Yellow Vest Canada, the Nouns of Odin (Soldiers, Sons, and Wolves), among others.

What makes the III% perhaps more of a concern is that they seem to be rather heavily armed and itching to use those weapons:

In 1995, Carl Sagan published "Demon Haunted World." That look into the future has proved to be sadly prophetic:

Hate groups like the III% militia claim they are angry at politicians lying to them. This isn't true.

They want politicians to lie to them so long as the lies they are told are those that they already believe (despite the evidence) and in which they take comfort.

Robert Jones Embraces Fascism

During the years I've been working on the blog there have been a few characters that have stuck out not only for their racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and/or Islamophobic views, but also for being bloody odd.

One such figure is Robert Jones:

Jones has been a frequent participant in a number of far-right protests in Ontario as well as at least one in Quebec. An American from Virginia living in Canada (I'm not sure if he's a permanent resident or a naturalized citizen), he appears to be married and may have adult children living in the United States, but other than that I admit that I haven't done a great deal of research into his personal biography. One thing that seems evident though is that he has an overarching need to belong to a group, but always seems to eventually alienate himself from the other members and gets himself kicked out.

He has been a member of the Soldiers of Odin.... before getting kicked out:

A Proud Boy from which he was also turfed:

He is a long time supporter of the JDL, though a now deleted post that I didn't think to save suggests tension with that group now:

A member of Ukip AND the French National Front:

He's currently a member of the far-right white nationalist group the Northern Guard:

And finally, he has grasped onto the Yellow Vests:

In short, he seems to view far-right white nationalist groups as a game of Pokemon and is trying to collect them all.

Finally, he quite literally worships Donald Trump:

You may think his over the top expression of love for Trump is at least a bit of a joke. It isn't.

Given his attraction to both authoritarianism....

.... and cults of personality, it probably shouldn't be a surprise that Robert Jones would embrace fascism:

Jones has embraced fascism, specifically Italian fascism, as a "solution" to what he considers the problem of liberalism. He in part justifies this by suggesting that fascism is distinct an anathema to National Socialism despite, you know, actual history:

At the same time he attempts to rehabilitate and defend the actions of some of the great monsters of history and suggests that they are models that the current occupant of the White House might emulate:

Note Travis Patron "liked" this particular post

Almost all of these posts have been deleted from Robert Jones' Facebook profile, but I figure that collecting them might prove to be useful at a later date.