Take it to the High Side (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Unjustified podcast)

At least 18 Trump administration officials used an unsecured Signal chat to discuss real-time attacks on Houthi militants in Yemen earlier this month as investigative journalist for The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to the group.

The Department of Justice is drastically changing their policy of prosecuting crimes in the United States prior to deportation.

The FBI has cut staffing in an office focused on domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations. This shift could undermine law enforcement’s ability to counter white supremacists and anti-government extremists.

Alina Habba was sworn in Friday as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Plus listener questions.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-8qfy4-249a81f9

Recent school shooters appear to have crossed paths in online extremist groups

The US state department recently designated the online extremist Terrorgram Collective as a terrorist group. Along with promoting white supremacy, the group encourages violent attacks and "provides guidance and instructional materials on tactics, methods and targets for attacks, including on critical infrastructure and government officials"...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/25/school-shooters-online-extremist-groups

 

Elizabeth Warren: GOP extremists are sowing chaos because they think it helps Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24GceaeWoMI

Expert GOES UNDERCOVER and EXPOSES Recruitment Tactics of Dangerous Extremists Groups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jE8k-TDG8

Lisa Murkowski voices new concerns about Republican Party’s future

"I'm having more 'rational Republicans' coming up to me and saying, 'I just don't know how long I can stay in this party,'" said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). "Now our party is becoming known as a group of kind of extremist, populist over-the-top [people] where no one is taking us seriously anymore."

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/lisa-murkowski-voices-new-concerns-republican-partys-future-rcna95076

How pardoning extremists undermines the rule of law

" I am a scholar who studies the individuals, groups and movements that use political violence. Research shows that this use of the pardon power can damage the rule of law in the United States. It undermines one of the tools against violence that law enforcement can bring to bear - deterrence. 

The American Bar Association describes the rule of law as a foundational principle for the U.S. justice system: "No one is above the law, everyone is treated equally under the law, everyone is held accountable to the same laws, there are clear and fair processes for enforcing laws, there is an independent judiciary, and human rights are guaranteed for all.""

https://theconversation.com/how-pardoning-extremists-undermines-the-rule-of-law-207272

Extremist groups are going local to disrupt the midterms

As Election Day draws near, mayors and police chiefs across the country are getting a new warning: Extremists have jettisoned their nationwide election intimidation strategy in favor of local efforts focused on neighborhood ballot boxes…

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/26/cities-midterms-elections-interference-militias-mayors-police-poll-extremists

Biden warns US democracy imperiled by Trump and Maga extremists

Biden emphasized that not all, not even most, Republicans are "Maga extremists" but there was not a question, he said, that the party was "dominated, driven and intimidated" by his White House predecessor – and perhaps would-be successor. 

These Trump Republicans, he said, "thrive on chaos" and "don't respect the constitution" or the rule of law. They "promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence", he continued, adding that they believe there are only two possible outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated. 

"You can't love your country when only you win," Biden said to thundering applause...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/01/biden-speech-philadelphia-extremist-republicans-threaten-democracy

Extremists Are Lying to Undermine America’s Public Schools | Time

…As Rufo made clear, the assaults on public schools in state after state are part of a nationally orchestrated and funded campaign. The goal is to destabilize public education and replace it with a universal, unregulated voucher system which would increase segregation and exacerbate already wide gaps between the rich and the rest of us…

https://time.com/6172216/public-schools-extremists/

Democratic group launches super PAC to counter election deniers running for office

"Our plan is to target extremist Republicans who want to overturn our democracy and expose their dangerous ideas," said Pat Dennis, vice president of research at American Bridge, in a video on Twitter, announcing the campaign…

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/democratic-group-launches-super-pac-counter-election-deniers-running-o-rcna16482

Neo-Nazis and QAnon: how Canadian truckers’ anti-vaccine protest was steered by extremists

Ottawa's occupation was a result of unrivaled coordination between anti-vax and anti-government organizations…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/08/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-extremist-qanon-neo-nazi

Argumentation 101 (Godless Rebelution podcast #351)

Everybody argues on the Internet, right? Are you tired of spinning your wheels and getting nowhere? Would you like your Internet battles to be less of a battle? More productive? More satisfying?

Well, you're in luck, because Taylor put together this episode to help make your time on the Internet a little less frustrating.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-hhthe-10ecd6b

Evidence of Armed Trump Extremists Continues to Emerge in January 6 Cases – Mother Jones

Since January 6, Republican lawmakers attempting to cover up the Trump-driven insurrection have claimed that no one brought guns to the US Capitol. That claim is false, as we showed in a recent Mother Jones investigation documenting an array of criminal cases—from a defendant who was armed on Capitol grounds and called for the overthrow of the US government, to an alleged operation in which numerous members of the so-called Oath Keepers, a loose-knit far-right militia, stockpiled firearms at a hotel near downtown DC for potential battle in support of Trump...

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/10/january-6-oath-keepers-guns-proud-boys-fbi-capitol-insurrection/

Extremists plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also plotted to blow up a bridge, feds say - The Washington Post

Last September, as two would-be kidnappers made their way to the vacation home of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for nighttime surveillance, the pair made a pit stop at a nearby highway bridge, according to prosecutors...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/29/whitemer-bridge-domestic-terrorism-michigan/

Conspiracy Theorists Are Attacking Critical Infrastructure

Extremist groups joined forces in the weeks after the election to target critical infrastructure and "incite fear," an NYPD intelligence report said...

https://theintercept.com/2021/03/17/5g-white-supremacists-conspiracy-theorists-critical-infrastructure/

Dozens charged in Capitol insurrection have been linked to extremism

... Insider previously reported the Oath Keepers, an extremist self-styled militia that seeks to overthrow the US government, extensively planned their presence at the riot, as did the Three Percenters, another self-styled militia...

https://www.insider.com/dozens-charged-in-capitol-insurrection-linked-to-extremism-2021-2

Opinion | Want to understand the GOP’s problem? Look at its newly elected extremists. - The Washington Post

... But if you were a serious-minded Republican who really did want to spend your time carefully studying issues and meticulously crafting legislation to address them, what would you think your party actually values right now? The answer is pretty clear: What sells in today's GOP is performative lib-owning. If you can find issues that activate grievance and tribal identification on the right, then put on a show of angrily channeling what the base is feeling, no matter how misinformed or absurd those beliefs, that's how you draw attention to yourself...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/22/want-understand-gops-problem-look-its-newly-elected-extremists/

Rand Paul outraged by the wrong part of Biden's inaugural address

... But Rand Paul was apparently insulted anyway. The Kentuckian heard the new president denounce extremists, white supremacists, and domestic terrorists, and for reasons he did not explain, the senator interpreted the comments as some kind of attack on Republicans...

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rand-paul-outraged-wrong-part-biden-s-inaugural-address-n1255151

Inside the Boogaloo: America's Extremely Online Extremists - The New York Times

At first glance, the We Are Washington rally might have looked like an early Fourth of July celebration, all bright stars-and-stripes Americana. It was a cool May morning in the state capital, Olympia, and low clouds were threatening to ruin the red, white and blue archway of balloons above the rally stage, the crepe paper behind it and the cut-out letters propped up in front that spelled “FREEDOM.” Few people wore masks. A man with a pistol on his hip meandered through the several-hundred-person crowd selling tiny yellow Gadsden flags — the “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake — for $5 each to anyone who wasn’t already carrying something.....
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/19/magazine/boogaloo.html

Three ‘Boogaloos’ Wanted to Topple the Government by Throwing Molotov Cocktails at George Floyd Protests: FBI

Anti-government extremists allegedly plotted to incinerate a power station and cause flaming mayhem at Las Vegas protests.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/three-boogaloos-wanted-to-topple-the-government-by-throwing-molotov-cocktails-at-george-floyd-protests-fbi