CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/8/2025

Research, Return to the Land, White Supremacists, Missionary groups, Brazil

PsyPost: Socially anxious people are better at detecting subtle signs of anger

"A new study published in Behaviour Research and Therapy suggests that people with high social anxiety are more accurate at recognizing subtle angry expressions compared to people with low social anxiety. The researchers found that individuals who scored high on social anxiety tests showed stronger brain responses when viewing low-intensity dynamic angry faces. These responses occurred during later stages of processing, which may reflect increased cognitive effort to interpret socially ambiguous cues.

Social anxiety is a condition marked by intense fear of being judged or negatively evaluated by others. People with social anxiety often worry excessively about embarrassing themselves in social situations and may avoid activities like public speaking, meeting new people, or even making eye contact. These fears go beyond shyness and can interfere with daily life. One feature of social anxiety is a heightened sensitivity to social threats, especially in the form of disapproval, rejection, or criticism.

Facial expressions, particularly those signaling anger, play an important role in how people navigate social interactions. For individuals with social anxiety, angry faces can be especially unsettling, even when the expressions are ambiguous or subtle. This tendency to interpret neutral or low-intensity expressions as threatening may contribute to the anxiety and avoidance behaviors often seen in social anxiety."

Times of Israel: 'Return to the Land': White supremacists building whites-only settlement in Arkansas

Sky News visits a 40-member community that claims its classification as a Private Members Association allows it to circumvent civil rights legislation.

"A group of white supremacists is founding a settlement in Arkansas that will only allow in white Christians.

The 160-acre community in the Ozark hills near Ravenden, Arkansas, named "Return to the Land" (RTTL), was founded in 2023 by Eric Orwoll and Peter Csereby, according to a Sky News report that aired this week.

It is explicitly declared a whites‑only settlement, excluding Jewish people, followers of non‑European religions, and LGBTQ individuals, vetting members based on European ancestry via interviews and membership screening processes, Sky News reported.

About 40 people currently live on-site, and hundreds more worldwide have paid for membership. According to Sky News, some of the members are police officers and federal agents.

Those who pass the group's screening processes are offered to buy land as LLC shares tied to personal plots, which RTTL believes allows it to bypass civil rights housing laws.

Because RTTL has a legal status as a Private Members Association (PMA), the group claims that its LLC structure exempts it from the Fair Housing Act. Civil‑rights groups say the arrangement is likely unlawful."

The Guardian: Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil's isolated peoples

Exclusive: Solar-powered units reciting biblical passages have appeared in the Javari valley, despite strict laws protecting Indigenous groups.

"Missionary groups are using audio devices in protected territories of the rainforest to attract and evangelise isolated or recently contacted Indigenous people in the Amazon. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo reveals that solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish have appeared among members of the Korubo people in the Javari valley, near the Brazil-Peru border.

Drones have also been spotted by Brazilian state agents in charge of protecting the areas. The gadgets have raised concerns about illegal missionary activities, despite strict government measures designed to safeguard isolated Indigenous groups."

" ... The first device uncovered, a yellow and grey mobile phone-sized unit, mysteriously appeared in a Korubo village in the Javari valley recently. The gadget, which recites the Bible and inspirational talks by an American Baptist, can do so indefinitely, even off-grid, thanks to a solar panel. Up to seven of the units were reported by local people, but photo and video evidence were obtained for just one."

Hot Yoga, Tallahassee - A CASE STUDY OF MISOGYNISTIC EXTREMISM

U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC)

March 2022

"In the late 1990s, a Canadian woman created an Internet peer support forum for people who wanted a sexual relationship but were unable to find a partner. It was intended to be a safe place to seek support for those who felt sexually deprived due to social awkwardness, marginalization, or mental illness. She popularized the term “involuntary celibacy” as a nonjudgmental way for lonely people to identify as a group. Over time, the term would be shortened to “incel.” This forum, along with similar communities, was intended to be positive and focused on providing support for overcoming one’s “incel” status.

As the community grew, the ideas expressed in the forums changed and by the early 2000s, some of the more dominant voices were young heterosexual men with vindictive and aggressive views toward women. Though the original developer took down her website, the community continued to spread across other forums.

Today, the term “incel” is often used to describe men who feel unable to obtain romantic or sexual relationships with women, to which they feel entitled. The term is used to describe one online subculture that exists within the “manosphere” – a network of blogs and forums frequented by groups including incels, men’s rights activists (MRAs), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), and pickup artists (PUAs). Although these groups are known to promote male-dominant views, some members express extreme ideologies involving anti-woman hate, sexual objectification of women, and calls for violence targeting women."

Read Full Report

https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2022-03/NTAC%20Case%20Study%20-%20Hot%20Yoga%20Tallahassee.pdf

Secret Service report details growing threat of "incel" terrorism

JON SKOLNIK

Salon

MARCH 15, 2022

The Secret Service found some crossover between violent incels and white supremacists.

A new Secret Service report highlights a concerning rise in terrorism threats posed by men who called themselves "involuntary celibate," often refered to as "incels."

The 26-page report, released on Tuesday by the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC), documents a sharp uptick in incel-fueled attacks against women over the past decade.

"The term 'incel' is often used to describe men who feel unable to obtain romantic or sexual relationships with women, to which they feel entitled," the report notes.

Researchers put a particular emphasis on the case of Scott Beierle, 40, who in 2018 shoot several women at a Florida yoga studio. According to the report, Beierle had a long history of warning signs leading up to the shooting. CBS reports that he'd previously been fired from several teaching jobs, and banned from numerous restaurants and apartment buildings.

"During his teen years, the attacker was accused of stalking his classmates, and he wrote stories that centered around violent themes," said Steve Driscoll, lead research specialist at NTAC, on Thursday. "One of those stories was 81 pages long and involved the protagonist murdering several girls before committing suicide. The female characters in the story that were killed, represented the attacker's actual classmates from his high school, but he slightly changed the names in his writing."

Beierle had also been arrested for groping women and was known as Ted Bundy amongst his close friends.

The day before his shooting, Beierle left a note that said the following: "If I can't find one decent female to live with, I will find many indecent females to die with."

"The Hot Yoga Tallahassee attacker was motivated to carry out violence by his inability to develop or maintain relationships with women, along with his perception of women's societal power over men," Driscoll said.

#incel

https://www.salon.com/2022/03/15/secret-report-details-growing-of-incel-terrorism/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/11/2022 (White Supremacists, Legal, Zendik Farm, Polygamist, False Memories)

White Supremacists, Legal, Zendik Farm, Polygamist, False Memories

RNS: California man gets second life term for synagogue attack

A 22-year-old white supremacist was sentenced Tuesday to life in federal prison for killing a woman and injuring three others in a shooting at a Southern California synagogue in 2019, adding to the life term he received three months earlier in state court.

John T. Earnest declined to speak in a courtroom full of victims, families and congregants. In state court, his attorney said he wanted to speak but a judge refused, saying he didn't want to give a platform for his hate-filled speech.

Earnest's attorney, Ellis Johnston III, said his client acknowledged his actions were "inappropriate," a statement that was greeted with skepticism by prosecutors. Peter Ko, a federal prosecutor, said Earnest's show of contrition came shortly after the shooting in a recorded phone call to someone else.

Denver Gazette: Killer was a member of a polygamous cult, friend says

"Helen Zuman and Lyndon McLeod had an unusual connection: they were indoctrinated into the same polygamist cult, and they both escaped, but not at the same time.

In fact, they just missed each other back then. McCleod left the Zendik Farm cult in North Carolina in the spring of 1999 and she joined that fall.  Zuman's book "Mating in Captivity" is a memoir about her experience with Zendik, a group which controlled sex between its members. Zendik philosophy banned monogamy because, as cult founder Wulf Zendik wrote,  "possessive attitudes about sex lead to jealousy, hate, violence, murder."

Some of McLeod's writings echoed these thoughts. He believed that society should revert back to tribal masculine-led society. "I want a return to Alpha Kings and their harems," he wrote in his blog. "We are sexually dimorphic and that means the alpha - the badass – gets all the women and the other 90% don't get any at all."

Zuman, a Harvard-graduate, first met McLeod when he contacted her in 2008 after reading Mating in Captivity. The two had spotty communication until 2018, when he published the first of three volumes of his book, Sanction, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Roman McClay."  

For months, Zuman and McLeod's friendship blossomed as they shared experiences, philosophies and jokes over long phone calls, texts and emails.

"I knew him as Lyndon," said Zuman, who explained there was a mystical reason behind the chosen pen name. "Roman came from a play on words for 'roman a clef', a kind of novel that's based on real life. In his book, he used his own real name and he used the real names of characters he knew from Zyndek."  

Zuman said that McLeod's character kills 46 people, one of whom is named "Michael Swinyard" -- whom he actually did shoot and kill Monday evening. "In the book there's at least one scene where Lyndon murders people in a tattoo parlor," said Zoman. Why did the character kill people? "As far as I know he did it because he wanted revenge. He wanted to avenge Lyndon," Zuman said.

Wednesday, McLeod's family announced in a statement that they had been estranged for a number of years, explaining, "We lost our son and brother years ago." But according to Zuman, the feeling was mutual, "He had beefs with his father, how he treated him and how he was raised," she said. "He looked down on his family as being normal, pedestrian and sort of sold out and mainstream."

Neuroscience News: False Memories Can Be Reversed

Summary: Researchers have developed new techniques that can correct false memory recollections without damaging true autobiographical memories.

"The study highlights – for the first time – techniques that can correct false recollections without damaging true memories. It is published by researchers from the University of Portsmouth, UK, and the Universities of Hagen and Mainz, Germany.

There is plenty of psychological research which shows that memories are often reconstructed and therefore fallible and malleable. However, this is the first time research has shown that false memories of autobiographical events can be undone.

Studying how memories are created, identified and reversed could be a game changer in police and legal settings, where false memories given as evidence in a courtroom can lead to wrongful convictions.

According to Dr Hartmut Blank, co-author of the research from the University of Portsmouth's Department of Psychology, "believing, or even remembering something that never happened may have severe consequences. In police interrogations or legal proceedings, for instance, it may lead to false confessions or false allegations, and it would be highly desirable, therefore, to reduce the risk of false memories in such settings."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/6/2022 (QAnon, Patrick Ryan, Transcendental Meditation, Cult Intervention, The Base, White Supremacist Terror Groups, Australia)

QAnon, Patrick Ryan, Transcendental Meditation, Cult Intervention, The Base, White Supremacist Terror Groups, Australia

Anchorage Daily News: A QAnon con: The viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurt real kids

"In May, Samara had stuffed a box of Frosted Flakes into her sparkly backpack, slipped out the door and ran away. She had just needed a break from it all, you know?

It was terrifying for her parents, Samara understood that now. The search parties, the police alerts, the missing posters.

They found her after two days, and ever since, everything in Samara's life was about "rebuilding trust" and "taking responsibility." All she wanted was for her parents to see that she was fine, and they didn't need to be so worried.

On this afternoon in July, she felt perfectly safe.

She scrolled to the next Instagram post, and the next, and the next, until her phone rang. Her dad's name was on the screen.

"Something's going on," Kevin Duplessis told his daughter.

Within the last 20 minutes, more than a dozen people had called him, frantic about whether Samara was OK. Apparently, thousands of people on the Internet were talking about the same thing.

Samara's name and face were going viral, along with the names and faces of half a dozen other children.

One tweet circulating her picture showed a screenshot of an old local news article that said Samara Duplessis was missing. The article was never updated when Samara was found safe.

Beside it was a screenshot of a pillow for sale on Wayfair, the online furniture superstore. It was called the "Duplessis" pillow. Its price: $9,999.

The person behind the post was seemingly arguing that because the pillow was marked at a ridiculous price, and because its name matched the last name of a child who appeared to be missing, Wayfair was involved in something sinister.

There were thousands of tweets making similar accusations about cabinets Wayfair was selling. The claims were on Facebook, too. And on Reddit, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Within 72 hours, the company was trending, with an estimated 1.2 million tweets about Wayfair and trafficking.

In the days to come, every aspect of these claims would be found to be false.

Human trafficking investigators at the Department of Homeland Security, who had to pause active investigations to sort out what was happening with Wayfair, would find no evidence to support any of the allegations. Wayfair's staff, bombarded with threats, would realize how the pricing anomalies were happening. Anti-trafficking organizations, inundated with callers, would beg the public to stop sharing bogus stories that made their work harder.

But with limited immediate intervention from social media companies, the Wayfair conspiracy theory would become one of the fastest-spreading disinformation campaigns on the Internet, ensnaring concerned mothers, TikToking teenagers, racial justice advocates and people all along the political spectrum.

They didn't realize they were amplifying a QAnon propaganda artist trying to convince the masses that President Donald Trump was saving the country from a ring of satanic pedophiles.

And they didn't know how dangerous child sex trafficking myths were about to become. That actual victims would be blocked from getting help. That women fearing traffickers would be driven to violence. And that the real children whose pictures were used in this ploy would have their lives upended.

One of those children was trying to make sense of what her dad was saying."

The Body International: An Interview With Cult News 101 Founder Patrick Ryan

"Patrick Ryan then got a dose of reality when his family became concerned, not for him, but for his sister who just so happened to also be in a cult. I get the sense from Ryan that the cult his sister was in looked more like a nefarious organization from an outsider's perspective than TM, so he didn't feel threatened by the information he and his family were getting to help her. Still, all cults share common DNA and have similar characteristics when broken down. Ryan started to realize TM might involve coercive control and at a certain point realized his suspicions were well-founded. Now a dissatisfied customer, Ryan thought about the levitation course he'd spent over $1,400 dollars on. He could see that students were getting robbed by a billionaire and tried to recoup the money. The time he put in, of course, he'd never get back."

Foreign Policy: America Is Losing the Ball on White Supremacist Terror Groups

Other countries are taking the lead in cracking down on U.S.-based groups.

"In late November, Australia became the latest country to list the Base, a U.S.-based neo-Nazi group, as a terrorist organization. Australia's move is indicative of militant white supremacist groups' growing global reach. In turn, Canberra's move highlights the need for Washington, which has only designated a single such group as a terrorist organization, to wield that power more aggressively.

Designating white supremacist groups as terrorist entities, as Australia has done, will be a key step to fighting the threats they pose. Designations allow governments to curb the groups' operational capabilities by making it illegal to give them money or any other material support. Designations have been a primary means of combatting terrorism in the past two decades as Washington focuses on stopping the flow of terrorist financing.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the Base posed a "credible" threat to the country, and it was "known by security agencies to be planning and preparing terrorist attacks," fulfilling the criteria for the group's listing as a terrorist organization under the Australian Criminal Code Act. Earlier this year, media reports revealed the Base had plotted to expand into Australia and had targeted six Australian men—including a teenager—for recruitment, with the goal of starting a cell in the country. Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, cautioned that Australians as young as age 16 were being radicalized to support a race war, a dynamic that could potentially provide the Base with fertile territory for its expansion plans.

The Base was established in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, a U.S. citizen living in Russia. Although the group has not carried out any attacks, its explicit goals make the dangers associated with the group clear enough. The Base's ideology is accelerationist: The group aims to commit violent acts to foment a civil war, overthrow the current system, and ultimately establish a white ethno-state. Nazzaro, who goes by the pseudonym Norman Spear, has defended the use of terrorism to achieve the Base's goals. In a June 2018 post on Gab, the social network associated with a far-right user base, he wrote "it's only terrorism if we lose—If we win, we get statues of us put up in parks." The group's ideology is also overtly antisemitic; Nazzaro tweeted in 2018 that his goal was to "prepare for the armed struggle against 'Z0G,' [sic]" using the acronym for "Zionist Occupied Government," a term often employed by white supremacists that reflects the belief that Jews secretly control the U.S. government. Nazzaro went on to state his mission was to free 'our people from Z0G oppression.'"

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Tabernacle of Hate: Seduction into Right-Wing Extremism, Second Edition

Kerry Noble

"In the summer of 1984, Noble came within seconds of committing what would have been the largest domestic terrorist act in U.S. history at that time. As one of the founders of the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord (CSA), a cult paramilitary group, he carried a bomb into a gay-affirming church, intending to murder over seventy congregants. In Tabernacle of Hate, Noble provides an unprecedented first-person account of how a small spiritual community moved from mainstream religious beliefs to increasingly extreme positions, eventually transforming into a domestic terrorist organization. Written after his release from prison, the author’s cogent narrative reveals the deceptive allure of extremist movements and the unmatched power of charismatic leadership. Noble also chronicles the intense standoff with federal agents at the group’s compound in northern Arkansas in April 1985. Originally published in 1998, this second edition includes an authoritative introduction placing Noble’s narrative and the CSA into the broader picture of American religio-political extremism."

Purchase on Amazon

Tabernacle of Hate

Former White Supremacist KERRY NOBLE

Talk Beliefs

March 11, 2021

In the 70s and 80s, KERRY NOBLE was ranking high in the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord - a far-right, militant organization dedicated to Christian Identity, white nationalism and survivalism.

On an attempt to leave an explosive device in a gay-friendly church, Kerry had a change of heart. His group were not so easy to turn around, leading to a tense standoff with the FBI. 

MARK from Talk Beliefs talks to Kerry about his incredible story, a tale of racism, polygamy and an undying belief that God was on their side.

https://youtu.be/dklhiZFlgZ8

CultNEWS101 Articles: 2/9/2021 (The Satanic Temple, Religious Freedom, Legal, White Supremacists, New Mexico Cult Series)

The Satanic Temple, Religious Freedom, Legal, White Supremacists,  New Mexico Cult Series

Newsweek: Satanic Temple Challenges 18 States' Abortion Laws With Religious Exemption Claim

"The Satanic Temple, a national religious rights organization with chapters in 21 states, has recently erected two billboards in Texas and Florida encouraging followers to challenge state restrictions on abortions conducted during the first trimester by claiming that the restrictions violate their religious beliefs as Satanists. Over 18 states have such restrictions."

NPR: Fast-Growing Alternative To Facebook And Twitter Finds Post-Trump Surge 'Messy'

" ... People are splintering off into these more fringe platforms that essentially have no content moderation or threat-monitoring capability whatsoever," said Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst who tracks disinformation at the Alethea Group.

Shortly after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, Facebook and Twitter kicked off Trump and cracked down on groups involved in organizing the insurrection. By now, many of those users — and those who sympathize with them — have found alternative platforms on which to spread their messages.

Some groups Facebook banned for spreading false claims about election fraud and organizing "Stop the Steal" rallies sent their members to MeWe, Gab and Parler, another alternative social app. Parler recently went down after Amazon refused to host it, saying it had too much violent content.

MeWe's Weinstein resists the comparison to Parler or Gab, which tout themselves as free-speech sites. For one thing, he says, MeWe is serious about putting limits on what people can say.

"I don't like sites where anything goes," Weinstein said. "I think they're disgusting. Good people right and left and middle can't handle 'anything goes.' We don't want to be around hate speech. We don't want to be around violence inciters."

Nor is MeWe meant to be a right-wing "echo chamber," the CEO said.

While MeWe does have rules, they are more lax than Facebook and Twitter. For example, both of the big platforms banned the baseless Qanon conspiracy theory because it has led to real-world violence, including at the Capitol. MeWe has not taken that blanket approach; it says it removes accounts and content that violate its rules against inciting violence, hate speech, harassment, bullying and illegal activity."

ProPublica: Global Right-Wing Extremism Networks Are Growing. The U.S. Is Just Now Catching Up.

"During the past two years, U.S. counterterrorism officials held meetings with their European counterparts to discuss an emerging threat: right-wing terror groups becoming increasingly global in their reach.

American neo-Nazis were traveling to train and fight with militias in the Ukraine. There were suspected links between U.S. extremists and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group that was training foreigners in its St. Petersburg compounds. A gunman accused of killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 had denounced a "Hispanic invasion" and praised a white supremacist who killed 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and who had been inspired by violent American and Italian racists.

But the efforts to improve transatlantic cooperation against the threat ran into a recurring obstacle. During talks and communications, senior Trump administration officials steadfastly refused to use the term "right-wing terrorism," causing disputes and confusion with the Europeans, who routinely use the phrase, current and former European and U.S. officials told ProPublica. Instead, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security referred to "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism," while the State Department chose "racially or ethnically motivated terrorism."

"We did have problems with the Europeans," one national security official said. "They call it right-wing terrorism and they were angry that we didn't. There was a real aversion to using that term on the U.S. side. The aversion came from political appointees in the Trump administration. We very quickly realized that if people talked about right-wing terrorism, it was a nonstarter with them."

The U.S. response to the globalization of the far-right threat has been slow, scattered and politicized, U.S. and European counterterrorism veterans and experts say. Whistleblowers and other critics have accused DHS leaders of downplaying the threat of white supremacy and slashing a unit dedicated to fighting domestic extremism. DHS has denied those accusations.

In 2019, a top FBI official told Congress the agency devoted only about 20% of its counterterrorism resources to the domestic threat. Nonetheless, some FBI field offices focus primarily on domestic terrorism.

Former counterterrorism officials said the president's politics made their job harder. The disagreement over what to call the extremists was part of a larger concern about whether the administration was committed to fighting the threat.

"The rhetoric at the White House, anybody watching the rhetoric of the president, this was discouraging people in government from speaking out," said Jason Blazakis, who ran a State Department counterterrorism unit from 2008 to 2018. "The president and his minions were focused on other threats."

Other former officials disagreed. Federal agencies avoided the term "right-wing terrorism" because they didn't want to give extremists legitimacy by placing them on the political spectrum, or to fuel the United States' intense polarization, said Christopher K. Harnisch, the former deputy coordinator for countering violent extremism in the State Department's counterterrorism bureau. Some causes espoused by white supremacists, such as using violence to protect the environment, are not regarded as traditionally right-wing ideology, said Harnisch, who stepped down this week."

Valencia County News-Bulletin: New television series about New Mexico cult may film in Belen

" ... [M]embers of the production crew and location scouts for a television show in pre-production were roaming the city of Belen looking for some prime real estate to film a new television series.

Kim Graham, the owner of Belen-based production company What Are The Odds, brought Brenden Fehr, one of the show's executive producers to Belen to find locations that evoked just the right small-town vibe.

The show, "Behind The Yellow House," is based on the true story of a New Mexico cult, a group of witches, that still exists and practices to some extent to this day, Fehr said.

"The show tells the story of Maggie, this young girl who is the chosen one. She is raised by her grandmother, who is the leader of the cult," Fehr said.

The woman's story is filled with dark rituals and abuse, ranging from human sacrifice to incest, he said, but she manages to escape and thrive.

"There are a lot of dark things in this show, things she was thrust into, but she escaped," he said.

Fehr, who is best known for his role as Michael Guerin in the original "Roswell" TV series that ran from 1999 to 2002, will play a small role in the new show, that of Sheriff Brown.

"He's investigating this cult, so he's on the outside and really doesn't know what's going on," Fehr said. "It's a small town with a lot of secrets."

While the show is based on a true story of a cult in New Mexico, and the woman known as Maggie is collaborating with creators, Fehr was clear it wasn't about Belen.

"This happened in the late 1960s and we're looking for locations that still evoke that era," he said. "Projects with bigger budgets can just build a set. We need places that already have that look or can be achieved with a few changes."

While they were in town, the group visited H.T. Jaramillo School and the Belen Police Department as possible filming locations.

Fehr said they really liked Belen's "look."

"It's smaller, has more of a community feel, where everybody knows everybody else," he said. "Other places might have something similar but there are tall buildings and have an urban feel."

While the show will delve into the dark rituals and abuse that happened in the woods "behind the yellow house," Fehr said he wants it to serve as a source of help to people experiencing abuse and other situations.

At the end of every show, there will be information and resources about sex trafficking and child abuse, he said."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

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Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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Please forward articles that you think we should add to CultNEWS101.com.

Healing From Hate: Battle for the Soul of America

HEALING FROM HATE examines the root causes of hate group activity through the bold work of those battling intolerance on the front lines, including Life After Hate, an organization founded by former Skinheads and neo-Nazis, now engaged in transforming attitudes of intolerance. Documenting a stunning era of hatred in America, HEALING FROM HATE follows these reformers in their work to de-radicalize White Nationalists, and heal communities torn apart by racism.

Established by a group of former neo-Nazis and Skinheads, Life After Hate was initially envisioned as a support network for those attempting to transition back into the mainstream. But with hate on the rise, the group began to focus on community engagement and direct interventions as well. These compelling “formers”, all with deeply moving stories of their own, carry a uniquely personal understanding of the roots of hate – and an equally unique approach to working with active “movement” members that’s grounded in empathy and compassion.

Having been provided with exclusive access, HEALING FROM HATE follows these counselor/activists in their crusade against violence and intolerance – through community & family engagement, as well as direct “intervention” with radicalized youth – experiencing the conflict of their struggles firsthand.

In support of these powerful personal stories, groundbreaking sociologist Michael Kimmel (“Guyville”, “Angry White Men” & “Healing From Hate”), offers up a parallel narrative through-line – helping the viewer to understand the psychological process of white radicalization, the crucial role of deep-seated needs around masculinity, and insight gleaned from his extensive research with “EXIT” groups around the world – work that had its genesis in Europe, and forms the basis of his recent bestselling book “Healing From Hate”.

Hate is part of a profound change in the crumbling American Dream, and with the arrival of the era of Donald Trump - as well as the tragedies of Charlottesville, Parkland, Pittsburgh and El Paso - the stakes have only intensified. In these times when civil discourse has perished, HEALING FROM HATE seeks to shine a light on the roots of hatred, and courageous work of those who have made their way back from violent extremism – with an eye trained on what’s needed to return meaning, identity and tolerance to a generation of disenfranchised white men.

“We are operating as human beings from one of two places: fear of love. And we get to choose which one that is.” — Tony McAleer, Life After Hate

https://www.healingfromhatefilm.com/



"Documenting a stunning era of hatred in America, Healing From Hate follows Life After Hate – an organization founded by ex-hate group members - in their work to de-radicalize White Nationalists and heal communities torn apart by racism."

Boogaloo Bois member pleads guilty to trying to sell weapons to Hamas

Andy Mannix

Star Tribune

December 16, 2020

A member of the anti-government Boogaloo Bois pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to provide weapons to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, in the days and weeks following protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 22, could face up to 20 years in prison for the federal felony. His sentencing has not been scheduled.

Appearing via video and wearing orange jail garb, Teeter told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that he came to Minneapolis from North Carolina after Floyd's death. He and Michael Robert Solomon, 30, another Boogaloo Bois member who's charged with the same crimes, met several times with two men they believed represented Hamas, but who were actually working covertly for the federal government. Teeter and Solomon negotiated selling gun suppressors and a "drop in auto sear" — a device that converts semi-automatic weapons into illegal machine guns, according to charges.

Teeter acknowledged in court he believed the materials would be used by the militant wing of Hamas. "I mean, why would someone buy suppressors if they weren't going to deliver them to a militant wing?" he said.

Teeter said they hoped Hamas would help them "to exit the country and open a training facility" for Boogaloo Bois, a loose-knit, far-right group bent on starting the next American civil war. He and Solomon also planned to bomb a courthouse in northern Minnesota, and then changed their target to an unspecified courthouse in the Twin Cities, he said in court Wednesday.

"This case highlights the real threat posed by domestic violent extremists who self-radicalize and threaten to violently attack others opposed to their views, with little or no warning," said Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis field office, which led the investigation.

According to court documents, Teeter, of North Carolina, is part of a group called "Boojahideen," a subgroup of the Boogaloo Bois. Around the time of the riots, he and Solomon "discussed committing acts of violence against police officers and other targets in furtherance of the Boojahideen's stated goal of overthrowing the government and replacing its police forces," a witness told the FBI. They talked about destroying government monuments, raiding the headquarters of a white supremacist organization in North Carolina and targeting politicians and members of the media, according to court documents.

In recorded conversations, Teeter and Solomon told undercover government sources they wanted to become mercenaries for Hamas to generate cash for the Boogaloo movement, and that they shared anti-U.S. government views, according to court documents. They met several times with undercover employees for the FBI, and in July they purchased a large drill press to make the suppressors. Teeter and Solomon delivered five suppressors to undercover sources on July 30 and agreed to make more, which they believed "would be used against Israeli and United States military personnel overseas," according to court documents.

"The defendant was a self-described member of the Boogaloo Bois whose extremist ideologies had moved into the realm of violent action," said Minnesota U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald. "I am grateful for the quick and effective action by law enforcement to keep our community safe."

In addition to Teeter and Solomon, another Boogaloo member, Ivan Hunter, is also facing federal charges related to the Floyd riots. Hunter allegedly shot a rifle 13 times into the burning Minneapolis Third Precinct, while people were inside, in an attempt to achieve the Boogaloo Bois' goal of ramping up violence and starting a civil war.

Andy Mannix covers federal courts and law enforcement for the Star Tribune. He joined the paper in January 2016 and previously covered Minneapolis City Hall and statewide criminal justice/Department of Corrections. 

andy.mannix@startribune.com 612-673-4036 AndrewMannix

https://m.startribune.com/boogaloo-bois-member-pleads-guilty-to-trying-to-sell-weapons-to-hamas-after-minneapolis-riots/573410351/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/11/2020

QAnon, OneTaste, Legal, White Supremacist, Sogyal Rinpoche

Bloomberg: QAnon's Rise in Japan Shows Conspiracy Theory's Global Spread

"QAnon's days as a solely U.S. phenomenon are over. The conspiracy theory's foothold in Japan -- home to one of its most active networks outside the U.S. -- demonstrates how the movement can be made palatable in a range of countries as it gains popularity from Europe to Brazil. Research by social media analytics firm Graphika Inc. shows the Japan-based QAnon community is among the most developed"

Toronto Sun: YES! YES! YES! Inside the bizarre world of the 'orgasm cult'

"Behind closed doors a so-called "orgasm cult" was even wilder and more bizarre than its reputation.

Now, former employees of OneTaste are speaking out about the action on the group's communal properties in California.

It was founded in 2004 by Nicole Daedone and focuses on the practise of what's called "orgasmic meditation."

OneTaste claimed that orgasmic meditation improved women's sex lives and allowed them to "reclaim their sexuality." Daedone even proclaimed it would be as popular as yoga some day.

What it involves is a woman naked from the waist down and having her clitoris stroked by a man, either her partner or another customer. But there was a cost, mostly financial."

Washington Post: Inside the white supremacist global network

"Violent white supremacist groups have formed a connected global movement that rose before Donald Trump's presidency and threatens to continue long after he leaves office.

These white supremacist groups have used the Internet to recruit and train followers, much as Islamist extremists did a decade ago, argues a major new study by Jigsaw, a research arm of Google. The study, described here for the first time, is being published Tuesday by Jigsaw's digital journal, the Current.

The study shatters the image that many analysts have of white supremacist attackers as "lone wolf" extremists. Jared Cohen, the chief executive of Jigsaw, argues that 'this myth obscures the vast underlying infrastructure of white supremacist online communities around the world.'"

The Telegraph: Trustees of charity founded by disgraced Buddhist guru failed to act  on abuse claims, watchdog rules [Paywall]

Students were put at risk of harm as a result of serious safeguarding failures
"Trustees of a British charity founded by a disgraced Buddhist guru failed to act  on "serious physical, sexual and emotional abuse", the watchdog has ruled."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 11/25/2020 (Obituary, Shincheonji, Korea, Legal, Falun Gong, Russia, White Supremacist)

Obituary, Shincheonji, Korea, Legal, Falun Gong, Russia, White Supremacist

Obituary: Cathleen Mann, PhD

"Cathleen Mann, PhD, had consulted in about a hundred cases involving cults, undue influence, psychological influence, and related areas. She had been qualified by a court of law as an expert in 15 states, testifying in 40 cases. She had an independent practice in Lakewood, Colorado, where she also did counseling, evaluations, investigations, supervision, and consulting. Dr. Mann had extensive experience with the qualification process required to be allowed to testify as an expert. Dr. Mann has a PhD in psychology and has held a counseling license in Colorado since 1994."

CNA: 21 people arrested after unregistered Singapore chapter of South Korean Shincheonji church resumed activities 'covertly': MHA

"Twenty-one people were arrested by the police on Monday (Nov 9) for allegedly being members of an unlawful society.
Preliminary investigations showed that the nine men, aged between 22 and 31, and 12 women, aged between 21 and 49, had allegedly re-engaged in activities connected to the unregistered local chapter of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SCJ), which is based in South Korea, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Another group of nine women, aged between 22 and 52, and two men, aged 23 and 36, are assisting the police with ongoing investigations.
"MHA will not allow members of unlawful societies or persons associated with them to threaten Singapore's public safety, peace and good order," it said.
The ministry said in February it was investigating the local SCJ chapter's activities.

As a result of these investigations, five South Korean nationals who were identified to have held key positions in the local chapter were repatriated in February and the group's front entities were dissolved.

Members of the local chapter were issued warnings to cease further involvement in SCJ activities or face further action from the authorities."

RFE: Siberian Court Orders Falun Gong Movement Banned

"A Siberian regional court has banned Falun Gong, the Chinese spiritual movement that China's Communist Party has sought to stamp out since the late 1990s.

The ruling, by an appeals court in the city of Novosibirsk, was the latest in a number of court cases that have targeted not only Falun Gong, but other religious and spiritual organizations under Russia's strict extremism laws.

In July, the Supreme Court in the region of Khakasia, east of Novosibirsk, rejected local prosecutors' request to classify the Chinese movement as extremist, something that effectively shuts down an organization.

But on November 10, the Novosibirsk appeals court overruled the local court's decision.

A representative of the organization, Oskana Shchyotkina, told RFE/RL that between 2014 and 2019, one of the movement's members was fined and another one was jailed for three days for distributing a book containing the movement's teachings.

She said the two cases were used by prosecutors to file a request to classify the group as extremist.

"We consider the case fabricated and, of course, we will appeal the ruling, which will not affect activities of the movement's other branches [in Russia]," she said.

It's unclear what sort of legal consequences the Siberian court ruling will have beyond the region.

Since the 2016 passage of a measure known informally as Yarovaya's Law, Russian authorities have stepped up investigation and prosecution of some smaller religious groups.

Among those targeted most aggressively are the Jehovah's Witnesses, a denomination that was labeled an extremist group in 2017. Prosecutors have arrested and tried dozens of members since then."

CNN: Former White supremacist: This is how to tackle hate and bigotry

" ... According to the US Department of Homeland Security, White supremacy is the biggest security threat facing the United States today based on the number of violent crimes committed. It eclipses all other types of extremism.

Hate and bigotry are now bigger than they have ever been. And because of the internet, it has become easier for hate groups to spread propaganda and attract new members."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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