Weird Little Guys

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Latest Episodes:

The Debutante at Elohim City: Dennis Mahon, Pt. 4 Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

In 1994, a former debutante named Carol Howe became an informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. For six months, she and Dennis Mahon made weekend trips to a white supremacist compound called Elohim City. Carol reported back to the government that Dennis Mahon was stockpiling weapons and talking about blowing up federal buildings. In April of 1995, someone did blow up a federal building. Had her handlers ignored credible information about the plot?

Sources:

Jones, Steven. Others Unknown: The Oklahoma City Case and Conspiracy. Public Affairs, 1998

Hammer, David Paul. Deadly Secrets: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Authorhouse, 2010.

Painting, Wendy. Aberration in the Heartland of the Real. Trine Day, 2012

Newton, Michael. White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866. McFarland and Company, Inc, 2014.

Lee, Martin. The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists. Little, Brown and Company, 1997.

Ronson, Jon. “The Debutante.” Audible Originals, 2023

Gumbel, Andrew and Charles, Roger. Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed and Why it Still Matters. William Morrow, 2012

Flynn, Kevin, and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground Free Press ; Collier Macmillan, 1989.

https://politicalresearch.org/2006/08/01/white-power-cyberculture

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/racist-skinheads-klan-groups-2002

https://rogues.wiki/index.php/Wendy_Iwanow

https://www.villagevoice.com/beyond-mcveigh/

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/barbecue-nations-6405901

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1997/07/15/sighting-accounts-differ-grand-jury-witnesses-put-bomber-in-2-places/62308562007/

https://web.archive.org/web/20220211005304/https://www.oklahoman.com/article/2451569/elohim-city-residents-enjoy-separate-lifestyle-religion

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/20/us/oklahoma-city-building-was-target-of-plot-as-early-as-83-official-says.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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The Klansman's Twin: Dennis Mahon, Pt. 3 Jan 02, 2025

Show notes

Before we finish the story of Dennis Mahon, let's take a little side quest to learn about his identical twin brother, Daniel. In 1999, Daniel Mahon was fired from his job as an aircraft mechanic at American Airlines. The company felt he was creating a racially hostile work environment. According to the lawsuit he filed, Daniel Mahon felt it was anti-white racism. His deposition in that case gives us an unreliable narrator's view of his brother's life.

Sources:

Ellis, Charles. Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2006

Kennard, Matt. Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror. London: Verso. 2012

Cullick, Jonathan. The Literary Offenses of a Neo-Nazi: Narrative Voice in "The Turner Diaries"
Studies in Popular Culture, APRIL 2002, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 87-99
Published by: Popular Culture Association in the South

https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4489

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/07/19/roberta-abbott-buckle-rochester-riots/12855941/

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/07/19/rochester-riots-timeline/12885229/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/eaux-claires-2017-bon-iver-justin-vernon-dad-wisconsin-secret-jazz-scene/

https://nmb.gov/NMB_Application/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/vernon-gil_res.pdf

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/11292236/mahon-v-american-airlines/

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CZM Rewind: White Terror Dec 26, 2024

Show notes

A teenager who murdered two people outside of a gay bar in Slovakia, a teenager who stabbed five men at a mosque in Turkey, and a teenager who planned to destroy infrastructure in New Jersey had one thing in common: they'd all been reading terrorism manuals produced by a group of neonazi propagandists. A new indictment alleges two Americans are responsible for inciting acts of white supremacist terror all over the world.

Original Air Date: 9.19.24

Sources:

https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/articles/heres-the-gore-artist-turning-terrorgram-manuals-manifestos-into-audiobooks

https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/articles/terrorgram-collective-leader-was-a-tucker-carlson-fanboy-and-failed-youtuber/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/21/slovakian-gay-bar-attack-great-replacement-conspiracy-theoryfast-spreading-racist-ideology

https://www.wired.com/story/terrorgram-collective-indictments/

https://www.antihate.ca/uk_first_add_terrorgram_collective_proscribed_groups

https://vsquare.org/bratislava-terrorist-radicalized-on-terrorgram-its-members-take-credit/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/canada-terrorism-far-right.html

https://www.antihate.ca/terrorgram_neo_nazi_collective_heart_international_arrests

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/terrorgram-collective-now-proscribed-as-terrorist-organisation

https://www.postoj.sk/145241/pachatelom-bol-definitivne-juraj-k-jeho-primarnym-cielom-bol-eduard-heger

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6193e52959704a0c3b5b4b0c/t/6421ecf5721fc579c2799737/1679944949837/ARC_Terrorgrams+First+Saint_Bratislava.pdf

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A Klansman in Berlin: Dennis Mahon, Pt. 2 Dec 19, 2024

Show notes

After winning his battle with a Kansas City cable company over the right to air his Klan public access television show, Dennis Mahon never made a second episode of Klansas City Kable. He was too busy organizing nazi punks in Tulsa and getting Klan chapters started in Germany.

Sources:

Ronson, Jon. “The Debutante.” Audible Originals, 2023

Ronson, Jon. Them: Adventures with Extremists. Picador, 2001

Forbes, Robert and Stampton, Eddie. The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement 1979-1993. Feral House, 2015

Moore, Jack. Skinheads Shaved for Battle: A Cultural History of American Skinheads. Popular Press, 1993

Travis, Tiffini. Skinheads: A Guide to an American Subculture. Greenwood, 2012

Kushner, Jacob. Look Away: A True Story of Murders, Bombings, and a Far-Right Campaign to Rid Germany of Immigrants. Grand Central Publishing, 2024

Newton, Michael. White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866. McFarland and Company 2014

Lee, Martin. The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists. Little, Brown and Company, 1997.

Ketter, Pia. "Zwischen Mord und Kreuzverbrennung. Der Rechte Rand, March/April 2016.

Rink, Nina. "Anleitung zum »Rassenhass«" Der Rechte Rand, March/April 2016

Charles, Roger. “Prior Warning.” Soldier of Fortune Magazine, November 1997

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/21/us/3-to-stop-racist-talks-in-mister-rogers-tone.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/12/us/klan-is-told-to-stop-imitating-mister-rogers-on-the-phone.html

https://tulsaworld.com/archive/2-victims-speak-out-on-beatings-harassment/article_7376c33f-036b-516f-b004-08e1c7ce3fa2.html

https://tulsaworld.com/archive/admitted-skinhead-wont-flee-friends-family-say/article_e986329a-b86a-52ca-b6ea-1f9d4954fd3d.html

https://tulsaworld.com/archive/kkk-head-offers-aid-in-trial/article_992ae2e8-0a99-5922-8c54-c8b19e4a511f.html

https://okmag.com/blog/a-punk-music-history/

https://flatlandkc.org/news-issues/changed-elohim-city-including-beliefs-residents/

https://www.texasobserver.org/906-editorial-the-phones-were-ringing/

https://issues.texasobserver.org/pdf/ustxtxb_obs_1997_03_28_issue.pdf

https://issues.texasobserver.org/pdf/ustxtxb_obs_1997_03_14_issue.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/03/world/klan-seizes-on-germany-s-wave-of-racist-violence.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/01/world/a-wave-of-attacks-on-foreigners-stirs-shock-in-germany.html

https://jeffmaysh.substack.com/p/how-an-undercover-exotic-dancer-captured

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Klansas City Kable: Dennis Mahon, Pt. 1 Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

In 1990, a single episode of a public access show called "Klansas City Kable" aired in Kansas City, Missouri. The klansman who fought city council for his right to produce it was never prosecuted for the bombing campaign he claims to have carried out in the decade prior, but his long career as a professional racist took him all over the world before a years-long undercover operation finally put him away.

Sources:

Kennard, Matt. Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror. London: Verso. 2012

Newton, Michael. White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866. McFarland and Company 2014

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/vorwaerts-fuer-die-arische-rasse-a-14649b2e-0002-0001-0000-000013491440

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/03/world/klan-seizes-on-germany-s-wave-of-racist-violence.html

Ketter, Pia. "Zwischen Mord und Kreuzverbrennung. Der Rechte Rand, March/April 2016.

Rink, Nina. "Anleitung zum »Rassenhass«" Der Rechte Rand, March/April 2016

Norton, Bill. "The Cop and the Klan." Star Magazine, October 9, 1988

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Ku Klux Kable Access TV Dec 05, 2024

Show notes

For over a decade, neo-Nazis and Klansmen were hand-delivering VHS tapes of a California-based public access TV show to local television stations in cities across the country. The stations had no choice but to run the show on local public access channels. The show's host, Tom Metzger, received a gift of $300,000 in 1984 that gave him the financial freedom to pursue his dream of delivering his racist message to as many Americans as possible, right through their television screens.

Sources:

Belew, Kathleen. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Harvard University Press, 2018.

Flynn, Kevin, and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground Free Press ; Collier Macmillan, 1989.

Hamm, Mark S., and Cécile Van de Voorde. “Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups: Theory, Research, and Prevention.” Trends in Organized Crime, vol. 9, no. 2, 2005

National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence, Bigotry and Cable TV: Legal Issues and Community Responses (Institute Report No.3), Baltimore, Maryland: The Institute, 1988.

Bradley J. Howard, Pulling the Plug: Controversial Programming on Public Access Television and the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 399 (1995)

Rendahl, Stephen E.. "White Aryan Resistance: A Radical Communication System." North Dakota Journal of Speech & Theatre, vol. 4, no. 1, 1 Sep. 1991, pp. 44 - 52.

Rendahl, Stephen (1990). Media access and the radical right: Public access to "race and reason." Unpublished paper presented to the Central States Communication Association, Detroit, MI.

Spring/Summer 1989 issue of “No KKK No Fascist USA,” Newspaper of the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC37_scans/37.nokkk.spr89.pdf

December 1985 issue of Searchlight magazine https://ia600700.us.archive.org/4/items/searchlight_126/searchlight_126.pdf

https://casetext.com/case/us-v-mahon-19

https://idavox.com/index.php/2020/12/10/american-strasser/

https://northernstar.info/16419/news/city/crusade-adds-fuel-to-flame-of-tensions/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-10-ca-99-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-13-me-23281-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/30/us/bill-wassmuth-61-an-ex-priest-who-fought-white-supremacists.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-10-me-11091-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/16/us/klan-wins-a-battle-for-cable-tv.html

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/tim-and-sarah-gayman-discuss-growing-anti-semitic-christian-identity-movement?page=0%2C1

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/20/us/racist-aryan-nations-group-inducts-new-disciples.html

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/chris-hobson-bruce-augustyniak-bruce-kala

https://memorial.bellsystem.com/pdf/1988ATTar_Complete.pdf

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2010/04/22/white-supremacist-richard-barrett-murdered-mississippi-home

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CZM Rewind: Barry Black Pt. 1 & 2 Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

The Fire Will Not Consume Us: Barry Black, Part 1

In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the mere act of burning a cross, absent evidence of specific intent to intimidate, is protected by the first amendment. But who was the klansman who got his case all the way to the highest court in the land? This is the first half of the story of Barry Black, a Pennsylvania Ku Klux Klan leader who won two write-in campaigns for constable, waged war on a rural gay bar, and spent decades fighting for his right to intimidate.

Original Air Date: 10.3.24

Freedom to Burn: Barry Black, Part 2

In part two of the story of Barry Black, we finally get to the landmark supreme court case that won the klansman the right to burn crosses. Barry's Keystone Knights faded into relative obscurity after the high profile case and Virginia passed a new law aimed to prevent men like Barry from using fire as a tool of intimidation.

Original Air Date: 10.10.24

Sources - Pt. 1:

https://www.salon.com/2009/07/24/liddy/

https://www.fec.gov/resources/legal-resources/litigation/berg_ac_berg_emerg_mot_proh_cert.pdf https://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/PROJECTS/Obama/Evidence/AFFIDAVIT-Bishop.pdf

https://barthsnotes.com/2009/08/25/meet-ron-mcrae-the-birther-bishop/ https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/278475/dykudrama/ https://digdc.dclibrary.org/islandora/object/dcplislandora%3A266739/datastream/OCR/view https://archives.rainbowhistory.org/files/original/367cf04d6456e9b3c311296a806863cd.pdf https://youtu.be/o4o0tZPETAc

https://archive.org/details/BarryE.Black/mode/2up

Heibel, Todd (2004). Blame It on the Casa Nova?: “Good Scenery and Sodomy” in Rural Southwestern Pennsylvania. In Spaces of Hate: Geographies of Discrimination and Intolerance in the U.S.A. Routledge.

Sources - Pt. 2:

https://law.duke.edu/voices/virginia https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/01-1107 https://unprecedented.substack.com/p/transcript-bodily-harm-is-coming https://time.com/archive/6615465/south-carolina-backfire/ https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/us/georgia-kkk-adopt-a-highway-lawsuit/index.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/former-kkk-headquarters-terrorized-town-years-now-will-become-diversit-rcna20865

https://www.kait8.com/story/3384156/prison-officer-fired-for-kkk-membership-sues-arkansas-correction-department/

Unite the Right audio from videos by photojournalist Zach D Roberts & publicly available video recorded by the marchers themselves

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Arrested Democracy, Pt. 2 Nov 21, 2024

Show notes

When Oath Keeper Darren Huff returned to Madisonville, Tennessee on April 20, 2010, he was planning to take control of the courthouse. It didn't quite work out that way. He didn't even see the inside of a courthouse until his own arrest a week later.

Sources:

https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/army-birther-under-investigation-035823

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/army-birther-lakin-released-from-leavenworth/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/04/26/gordon-liddy-on-shooting-from-the-lip/75754676-030f-4191-a9e3-a421855aea1f/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-six-g-gordon-liddy-the-126130442/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/08/roger-stone-kristin-davis-robert-mueller/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democratic-party-accuses-republicans-voter-intimidation-federal-court

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/attorney-for-birther-army-doc-is-former-gop-staffer-and-anti-gay-crusader

https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/gan/press/2011/11-01-11.html

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-than-1-of-defendants-in-federal-criminal-cases-were-acquitted-in-2022/

https://time.com/archive/6597707/the-secret-world-of-extreme-militias/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-vaxxers-charge-followers-to-join-fake-anthony-fauci-grand-jury/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4382623/fitzpatrick-v-bivins/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5092131/united-states-v-huff-tv1/

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Arrested Democracy, Pt .1 Nov 14, 2024

Show notes

In 2010, conspiracy theorists around the country were convinced that Barack Obama was not the rightful president. Some of them filed lawsuits. Some of them tried to have the President indicted. And when none of that worked, some of them took matters into their own hands and tried to arrest the county court employees they thought were standing in their way. In the first half of this story, Walter Fitzpatrick unsuccessfully storms the courtroom in Madisonville, Tennessee. The outcry over his arrest would motivate Oath Keeper Darren Huff to rally supporters for a second attempt.

Sources:

Jardina A, Traugott M. The Genesis of the Birther Rumor: Partisanship, Racial Attitudes, and Political Knowledge. The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 2019;4(1):60-80. doi:10.1017/rep.2018.25

Josh Pasek, Tobias H. Stark, Jon A. Krosnick, Trevor Tompson, What motivates a conspiracy theory? Birther beliefs, partisanship, liberal-conservative ideology, and anti-Black attitudes, Electoral Studies, Volume 40, 2015

Hughey, M.W. Show Me Your Papers! Obama’s Birth and the Whiteness of Belonging. Qual Sociol 35, 163–181 (2012).

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/birther-movement-founder-trump-clinton-228304

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna33388485

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/us/12alabama.html

https://www.newsherald.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/19/vigilante-group-oath-keepers-arrested-in-mexico-beach-following-hurricane-michael/9509280007/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oath-keepers-poll-watching_n_58122566e4b0990edc2f8178

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/hate-group-expert-daniel-levitas-discusses-posse-comitatus-christian-identity-movement-and

https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2009mc00346/137380/2/0.pdf

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/25/judge-lamberth-jan-6-trump-00137960

https://www.tncourts.gov/rules/rules-criminal-procedure/6

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A Deal With the Devil: Ethan Melzer, Pt. 2 Nov 07, 2024

Show notes

In 2022, Ethan Melzer pleaded guilty to plotting to help al Qaeda ambush and kill his entire unit while on a sensitive mission in Turkey. But Melzer's co-conspirators turned out to be a Canadian teenager and a government informant, not members of al Qaeda. And the satanic cult that drew him down this nazi rabbit hole turned out to have been run by a man on the FBI payroll.

Sources

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17286246/united-states-v-melzer

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69307006/united-states-of-america-v-melzer/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-satanist-neo-nazi-plot-to-murder-u-s-soldiers-1352629/

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neo-nazi-1378280

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jack-teixiera-case-military-extremism-1234724461

https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangerous-exploits-of-an-extremist-fbi-informant/

https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/black-sky-thinking/ona-fascism-nazis-folk-horror-underground-occult/

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