15 Ways Social Media Fuels Violent Extremism
How Vulnerable Is US Rail System to Attack? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
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The Extremism Roundup

Promoting Civil Discourse and Marginalizing the Extremes
A weekly compilation of the most important developments in the struggle against radical ideologies

Islamist Extremism

Iran JCPOA

Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

Iran Shutting Off Surveillance Cameras at Nuclear Facilities

  • Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors it would shut off 27 surveillance cameras at several key nuclear facilities after the IAEA voted to censure Iran for its violations.

  • The IAEA’s access to its own cameras has been intermittent since February 2021.

  • IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said it could be a "fatal blow" to the efforts to revive the nuclear deal.  Read More

Student at Anti-Israel March on Illinois Campus Charged for Rock-Throwing

  • The University of Illinois’ student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held an anti-Israel march in front of the university's Illini Hillel Cohen Center for Jewish Life.

  • Sayed A. Quraishi, 23, who was participating in the march, admitted to police that he threw a rock toward Jewish students who gathered outside because he felt the Jewish students were being disrespectful.
  • Quraishi faces a sentence that ranges from probation to five years in prison.  Read More

Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism

Patriot Front Rally

Kron 4

Patriot Front Members Arrested on Their Way to Riot at Idaho Pride Event

  • Police arrested 31 members of the group Patriot Front near a pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • The men were found standing inside a U-Haul truck wearing matching outfits and in possession of riot gear.
  • Authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown.
  • All members were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor.  Read More

The Attempted Murder of Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh

  • Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, Calif., is facing federal charges of attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
  • Roske had in his possession a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, a knife, zip ties, pepper spray, duct tape and other items that he told police he would use to break into Kavanaugh's house and kill him.
  • Roske told police he bought the gun to use on Justice Kavanaugh because he was upset over a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court is about to overrule Roe v. Wade.
  • Roske faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.  Read More

More News From the Alt-Right

  • A group of five men said to be members of the Proud Boys disrupted an event called “Drag Queen Story Time” at the San Lorenzo, Calif. library.  Read More

More News From the Alt-Left

  • A San Diego grand jury has indicted 11 alleged members of an Antifa group that was involved in several assaults that occurred in January 2021 during a “Patriot March” in Pacific Beach, Calif. The defendants were indicted on 29 felony counts, including conspiracy to riot.   Read More

Hate Crime

Sagar Tamang

Bimala Thapa via KTVU Fox 2

  • A California man of Asian descent, Sagar Tamang, 25, was brutally attacked in front of Fox Theater in Oakland. No suspects have been found.  Read More

  • A transgender woman and two friends were shot and attacked in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Police say the suspect shouted homophobic slurs at one of the victims before the attack.  Read More

Hostile Foreign Influence Operations

Chinese Telecom Hackers

Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images

Government Warns of Chinese Hackers Targeting Telecom Providers

  • U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have warned about China-based state-sponsored cyber actors exploiting vulnerabilities in telecommunications organizations and network service providers.  Read More

Congress Urges Universities to Divest From China

  • Some members of Congress are pushing America’s top universities to purge their enormous endowments of potentially problematic Chinese companies.  Read More

Research & Trends in Extremism

NY Subway

Gary Hershorn via Getty Images

How Vulnerable to Attack Is U.S. Mass Transit and Passenger Rail?

  • Passenger rail systems – primarily subway systems – in the U.S. carry about five times as many passengers each day as do airlines, over many thousands of miles of track, serving stations that are designed primarily for easy access. These elements make the passenger rail system particularly vulnerable to attack from extremists.  Read More

15 Ways Social Media Fuels Violent Extremism

  • Extremists groups have learned how to use social media in a variety of ways to help them attract new followers, network with like-minded people,  garner sympathy, and spread their hate-based ideologies.  Read More

QUOTABLE
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”


--Viktor Frankl

NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.