U.S. authorities have seized dozens of internet domains used by Russian intelligence agents and their proxies to steal valuable information from U.S. government computers and email accounts, the Department of Justice revealed Thursday. In a warrant unsealed this week, the department accused the “Callisto Group,” a unit under Russia’s FSB security service, of orchestrating an “ongoing and sophisticated spear phishing campaign” aimed at gaining unauthorized access to the computers and email accounts of victims. The warrant alleged that Russian-directed cybercriminals pilfered “valuable information and sensitive United States government intelligence.” Targets included former U.S. intelligence employees, former and current Department of Defense personnel, Department of State employees, Department of Energy staff, U.S. military contractors and U.S.-based companies. The Justice Department seized 41 internet domains and coordinated the takedowns with tech giant Microsoft, which seized an additional 66 unique domains operated by the same group.
As a well-known business owner in the coastal community of Coos Bay, Oregon, Michael Whitworth Gantenbein is a recognizable man. The 53-year-old has a long, gray bushy beard, and his black flatbed pickup truck is always flying two flags: an American stars and stripes, and a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag. Gantenbein’s Coos Bay-located company — Whit Industries — is a local go-to for hydraulics installation and repairs. In recent years, Whit Industries has received a quarter of a million dollars in public contracts from the Port of Coos Bay and other local entities. But Gantenbein isn’t just a hardworking blue-collar business guy. He’s also an active neo-Nazi using his company’s resources to promote hate. One example is Whit Industries’ recruiting of white supremacists to the Coos Bay area — one of Gantenbein’s newest employees is an alleged pedophile from Salem. Michael Whit Gantenbein On September 21, 2024, Gantenbein was identified by Corvallis Antifa as a leader of the Oregon chapter of White Lives Matter, a national Neo-Nazi organization. Designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, White Lives Matter Oregon (WLM-OR) is primarily organized through Telegram, a Russian messaging app commonly used by white supremacists because it lacks moderation. LCRW reviewed Telegram chat logs obtained by Corvallis Antifa, gaining insight into how the group functions. After being vetted by the group’s administrators—Gantenbein and Cruz Dean Walters, a 25-year-old Marine veteran from McMinnville, Oregon—new recruits are added to the WLM-OR group chat. In between long rants about their personal lives and the white power movement, members of the group are encouraged to spread white supremacist propaganda in their communities.
Eine Rangliste zeigt, wer besonders viele Falschnachrichten im Internet verbreitet. Neben Verschwörungsideologen und Extremisten taucht auch Bayerns CSU-Chef Markus Söder darin auf. Falschnachrichten, irreführende Behauptungen sowie Hass und Hetze verbreiten sich auf dem Kurzbotschaftendienst X des US-Milliardärs Elon Musk wie ein Lauffeuer. Oft lässt sich bei den Tweets nicht überprüfen, welche Beiträge, Fotos und Videos wirklich der Wahrheit entsprechen und hinter welchen manipulative Absichten stecken. (…) Bei welchen Accounts Nutzer besonders oft Korrekturen anbringen, zeigt ein Ranking aus den USA. Auf einer Homepage werden die 200 Accounts aufgeführt, bei denen die X-Nutzer am häufigsten aktiv wurden. In der Liste reihen sich Verschwörungsideologen, Influencer und Politiker aneinander. Kein Nutzer aus Deutschland wird dort aufgeführt – außer einem: Bayerns Ministerpräsident Markus Söder. Mit insgesamt 23 “Community Notes” taucht der CSU-Chef in der Liste auf. Seit Monaten hält er sich dort unter den Top 200. Am Freitag befand sich Söder auf Platz 173.
Cameron Hotchkiss also posted videos of himself mixing chemicals and threatening to make a napalm flamethrower as part of a “feud” with another family. A thug who who wore an SS swastika flag when chasing people down a Stirling street with a chainsaw has been jailed for three years. Cameron Hotchkiss also posted videos of himself mixing chemicals and threatening to make a napalm flamethrower as part of a “feud” with another family. Stirling Sheriff Court was told the chainsaw incident in June last year occurred at around 11.20 pm. Prosecutor Rachel Wallace said it followed an earlier incident when four men had arrived at 22-year-old Hotchkiss’s home and there was an argument about a drug debt involving a friend of Hotchkiss. (…) Miss Wallace said: “The chainsaw was switched on and he was waving it around and appeared to be chasing someone. He was also wearing an SS flag which had SS emblems and a swastika on it.”
The BBC has confronted a neo-Nazi in Finland who shared online instructions on how to commit arson with UK rioters during the summer. The 20-year-old was an administrator in the Southport Wake Up group on the Telegram messaging app, where he was known as “Mr AG”. He posted the arson manual, which was pinned to the top of the group chat. In late July and early August, the group was key in helping to organise and provoke protests that turned to violence in England and Northern Ireland. We tracked Mr AG – whose real name is Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Rasanen – to an apartment on the outskirts of the Finnish capital, Helsinki. It was from here, more than 1,000 miles away from Southport, that the neo-Nazi took a prominent online role during the UK riots. On 29 July, within hours of the killings of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, the Southport Wake Up group was created. Within days it had grown to more than 14,000 members. Mr Rasanen – or Mr AG as he was known online – helped to run the group chat. The group organised the very first protest in the UK, on St Luke’s Road in Southport, the day after the killings. That protest later turned into a riot. Before the group was taken down by Telegram, a series of other protest locations were advertised, as well as a list of dozens of refugee centres, suggested as potential targets. Alongside that list, Mr AG posted the arson manual, writing: “Something fun for you to read.” The manual is believed to have been written by a Russian fascist group proscribed as terrorists in their own country. It includes details on how to avoid the police and it encourages the targeting of Muslims and Jews. Underneath the post, other members wrote aggressive and offensive comments, including: “I’m ready for these migrant boys,” while another describes “invaders” as “a stupid bunch underestimating whites”. (…) On his Telegram accounts, Mr Rasanen celebrates Hitler and promotes a neo-Nazi group called the Nordic Resistance Movement, which is banned as a terrorist organisation in the US. He also posts voice notes – in one he describes himself as a “national socialist”, and in another he appears to call for the genocide of Jewish people. Veli-Pekka Hämäläinen, an investigative journalist at Yle, Finland’s national broadcaster, says Mr Rasanen has been active online “for many years”.
A total of 68 suspected gang members with ties to White supremacy were charged in the Los Angeles area Wednesday in a large-scale takedown, federal prosecutors said. The Peckerwoods Gang members and associates were charged in a sweeping federal indictment, which included allegations of racketeering, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking and financial fraud, according to officials. (…) More than 40 of the suspected members and associates of the Peckerwoods Gang were arrested Wednesday or were already in custody in what was “one of largest takedowns in the history of the Department of Justice against a neo-Nazi, White supremacist, violent extremist organization,” Estrada said. The arrests involved multiple federal and local law enforcement tactical officers, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force and resources brought in from the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, a source previously told CNN. Fueled by ‘hate’ and ‘animus’ The Peckerwoods Gang is based in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley and is “essentially a local chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood,” said Akil Davis, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of Los Angeles’ field office. They engage in a wide variety of criminal activity, including drug trafficking, fraud, violence and identity theft, the US attorney said. (…) In aligning themselves with the Aryan Brotherhood, local gang members are able to commit a variety of crimes on the outside and give money to their incarcerated counterparts, Estrada said. The gang also benefits from the Brotherhood’s alliance with the Mexican Mafia, giving them “greater freedom to commit crimes on the outside,” Estrada added.
Musk’s donations to Building America’s Future started by 2022, sources say Group’s revenues climbed from $11M in 2021 to $53M in 2022 Building America’s Future attacked Biden administration on various topics Oct 2 – Elon Musk secretly funded a conservative political group in recent years, according to four people familiar with his donations, illustrating quiet financial support for right-wing causes even before the billionaire entrepreneur in July endorsed former President Donald Trump’s bid for re-election. Two of the people familiar with the donations told Reuters that Musk’s contributions to the organization, Building America’s Future, had started by 2022. One of those people and a third source said the donations amounted to millions of dollars, significantly boosting a group whose advertisements and social media campaigns have criticized the Biden administration and progressive political platforms of the sort that Musk himself has increasingly denounced. (…) The magnate behind ventures including carmaker Tesla, space contractor SpaceX and the social media platform X, Musk for many years was careful to avoid suggestions that he favored either major U.S. political party. As recently as March, months before he publicly backed Trump and announced plans to finance a political action committee to work against Democrats, he wrote on social media: “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President.” Donations to Building America’s Future, however, would show he was already using his vast resources to fund right-wing causes. As a non-profit 501(c)(4) group, the organization isn’t required by federal law to disclose its financial backers. Although such groups aren’t allowed to finance candidates’ political campaigns, they can espouse political causes. As such, they are commonly referred to as “dark money” groups – used by political operatives, Democrats and Republicans alike, to hide the financial origins of influence campaigns. In Musk’s case, the four people familiar with his donations told Reuters, the contributions to Building America’s Future remained closely guarded. Three of the people were briefed on the donations by executives at or linked to the organization and the fourth was consulted on the matter by a Musk aide. All spoke with Reuters on the condition that they not be identified by name. Revenues at Building America’s Future, according to government data, climbed from some $11 million in 2021 to about $53 million in 2022, the year two of the people said Musk had already started his donations. The figures are the most recent available from the Internal Revenue Service, which requires tax-exempt organizations to disclose their revenues.
sieeh auch: Elon Musk Gave Tens of Millions to Republican Causes Far Earlier Than Previously Known The donations were to groups with ties to former Trump aide Stephen Miller and to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known. The Tesla CEO quietly gave tens of millions of dollars to groups with ties to Trump aide Stephen Miller and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, according to people familiar with the matter. The financial contributions, which haven’t previously been reported, show how Musk, who seemed to undergo a rapid political transformation this year, was a major force in funding Republican initiatives and candidates well before starting a super political-action committee in support of former President Donald Trump. They also make him one of the biggest donors to conservative causes, which in combination with his large social-media following makes him one of the most influential figures in U.S. politics. His track record thus far in backing winners, however, is mixed at best. In the fall of 2022, more than $50 million of Musk’s money funded a series of advertising campaigns by a group called Citizens for Sanity, according to people familiar with his involvement and tax filings for the group. The bulk of the ads ran in battleground states days before the midterm elections and attacked Democrats on controversial issues such as medical care for transgender children and illegal immigration. Citizens for Sanity was incorporated in Delaware in June 2022, with salaried employees from Miller’s nonprofit legal group listed as its directors and officers. Miller, a senior aide in Trump’s White House, was an architect of the previous administration’s restrictive immigration policies and a leading backer of its socially conservative initiatives. The following year, Musk gave $10 million in support of DeSantis as he ran for president, people familiar with his donation said. The money was routed through a group called Faithful & Strong Policies, according to the people familiar with the matter. Musk’s contribution to DeSantis’s presidential efforts hasn’t previously been reported. More than half of the money ended up in the coffers of a pro-DeSantis political-action committee called Never Back Down. DeSantis dropped out of the race in January.
