There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
Tue, 16 Mar 2021 10:00
Part One: RAM: Nazi Fight Club
Hey, Robert here. It's been like two months since I had LASIK and I'm still seeing 2020. All I had to do was go in for a consultation, then go in for a maybe 10 minute procedure and then my eyes have been great ever since. You know, I healed up wonderfully. It was very simple, couldn't have been a better experience. So if you want to explore LASIK plus I can't recommend it enough. They have over 20 years experience in the industry and they performed more than two million treatments right now if you want to try getting LASIK plus you can get $1000 off of your surgery when you're treated in September, that's $500. Of per eye, just visitmylasikoffer.com to schedule your free consultation. Hello, I'm Erica Kelly from the podcast Southern Fried true crime. And if you want to go from podcast fan to podcast host, do what I did and check out spreaker from iheart. I was working in accounting and hating it. Then after just 18 months of podcasting with Spreaker, I was able to quit my day job. Follow your podcasting dreams. Let's breaker handle the hosting, creation, distribution, and monetization of your podcast. Go to spreaker.com. That's spreaker.com. In the 1980s and 90s, a psychopath terrorized the country of Belgium. A serial killer and kidnapper was abducting children in the bright light of day. From Tenderfoot TV and iHeartRadio, this is La Monstra, a story of abomination and conspiracy. The story about the man who simply become known as. Lamaster. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's really having some ************* trouble getting adjusted to the new year and coming back from vacation? My me. Ohh wow that see? Off balance from the get go, I'm Robert Evans. This is behind the behind the ******** podcast, where Sophie laughs at me for my foibles and we talk about bad people over the years. And this is, yeah, right now. I don't know when this episode is gonna air, maybe in sometime in early February, but this is the first episode we're recording in 2021 and I have just come back, as has Sophie from two weeks of vacation. I worked. I think I speak for both of us when I say mother. Tucker, it is hard to get back into the swing of things, which is why Garrison Davis is here today to read our episode to me so that I get to skip out on writing for a little while longer and, I don't know, maybe play a ******* video game or something. How are you doing, Garrison? Great. I just woke up and I have coffee in one hand and scrolling through my 20 page monster essay. And on the other hand, you've truly adapted to the podcasting lifestyle which involves. Waking up at 12:35, frantically getting on a zoom call because Sophie yells at you for being late and then reading 20 pages about a Nazi. Yeah. Now here's my question. So you have the coffee you have, do you have a secret weapon near your podcast being station? I have about 20 of scream of sticks to my right and about, I don't know, five bladed weapons to my left. I got a mouser. Yours is so, so much better. It's so cool. I do love the machete Roberts at me. Oh, I I I have that machete, too. It's a yeah, it's a good one. It's a good one. CRKT. Yeah, yeah. We need to get you a get you a rifle, Garrison. But first, let's talk about the reason you might need a rifle. These Nazis you wrote about today. Yeah. Not. OK. So I'm getting. I'm getting a little tired with Nazis. I'll be honest. We all are. That's kind of their thing. They just they they just keep being a problem. Yeah, like this. Should have ended, I don't know, in the 40s or something, but no, we have. We have so many other kind of world ending problems to deal with, like climate change, hunger, evictions, pandemic. But the fascists just keep popping up and they're adding on to all of these problems. And I am really not excited about Eco fascism. Yeah, that's the one I'm most not excited about. Yeah, that's the thing I see coming the most. We're not actually going to be explicitly talking about Ecofascism today, although it will. They'll probably come up towards the end because of some of the influences that we'll be talking about, but well, we're we're going to be more focusing on good old fashioned Nazi street fighting gangs. Excellent. But we have, we have a fun, we have a fun twist where it's not, it's not just street fighting gangs, it's also a weird kind of active where lifestyle brand. Yeah, that's my **** right there. Yoga pants. Yeah. Ethnic cleansing. Yeah, let's do this ****. It's like this with this weird brand of, like, lifestyle fascism with also street fights. It's great. Hell yeah. Capitalize everything. Even genocide. Yes. So of course this means we're talking about the not so fine folks at RAM or also known as the rise above movement. If if you've ever seen protest footage, especially like a right wing versus Antifa. Footage from like Pre 2020 you've you've probably seen remembers beating up people on the ground. If you if you saw footage from like 2017, 2018, you probably saw Rand members beating up children, that's cause that's kind of what they were doing for a lot, a lot of 2017, especially on the West Coast with people who we now know to be a part of RAM were popping up all, all over. So today we are going to look into the rise and the fall and the sort of kind of grift resurgence of the rise above movement. This is just another. It's just a side note for me, for, you know, I know, Robert, you talked about this. You talk about this a little bit too. But when we try to like, cover these groups, there's always kind of a line you want to draw between like giving them advertising and like covering them in responsible ways so people know. It's like people have information about them and be about what threats they pose and how to oppose it, right. So I, I had a bit of, I had a bit of trouble on this one, trying to find this line of, you know, what is too much information that's like making it. To advertise versus, you know, I I think this group is, I think the this group's ideology specifically could be a real problem in America. Yeah. We call it the Savitri Devi paradox of like, OK, how how deep do you get into this thing that people need to know about, but you really don't wanna just be platforming. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's it's, it's, it's, it's. This one was a bit tricky because I think there's gonna be a lot of American youth that's very susceptible to what this type of what this type of group puts out. So I'm going to get into maybe a little bit more detail than I would usually want to for this group, but I'm going to try to keep it in context for, you know, informing people about what to look out for. Because I think you know, this, like, is this, this type of groups never actually gotten a very good stronghold in America and I think they very well could. Because of the weird kind of macho, kind of masculine lifestyle activism with, like, athletics, the kind of thing that we'll be talking all all about that more later, so. First, first, the kind of the origins of this group what what we know as the rise above movement, which I'll just be calling RAM from now on. 1st 1st popped on to the scene short shortly after Donald Trump's election alongside a handful of other like Alt right groups. So like late, late 2016 is when they first first formed kind of alongside Richard Spencer in the Traditionalist Worker Party. And like those other first wave groups, yeah they initially. So to tell you kind of this to get a little peek about what these people actually believe. They initially referred to themselves as the DIY division. So nerds. So deficient army trying to hack into that 2012 relevant stream. Yeah. Yeah, but also like division obviously being referenced. Yeah. Yeah. So, but they they quickly changed their name, realizing this was probably a terrible name. So in in in early in spring of 2017, they quickly changed their branding to RAM or rise above movement. Yeah. They had about probably a few dozen members who lived mostly around Southern California. The most efficient way to describe them is basically a white supremacist St gang that exists to get into physical contact, fiscal combat with all of their ideological enemies. So that's really anyone that isn't them or anyone they see as Antifa. But it was it was very explicitly to get into fights with people. This was like their main their this was their main focus. Ram has two people usually credited as leaders or Co cofounders Benjamin Daley and Robert Rundo. The inspirations for the group is a mix of kind of Nazi skinheads like the hammer skins and European Eastern European street fighting white identity movements, which we'll get into more in the next episode. A lot. But I'm, I'm, I kind of, I'm, I'm going to be kind of calling that lifestyle brand fascism because of the kind of, yeah weird, the weird white identity mixed in with like this. Like selling athletics, equipment and stuff. It's also a real good example of one of the things Umberto Eco talked about in or fascism. His essay trying to kind of explain what fascism is. Syncretism, right, like fascism in in the United States has particularly spread in like by kind of Co opting aspects of consumerist culture and like like. That's why you'll see a lot of these like lifestyle brands that focus on like beards and tactical gear and like coffee and **** like that. Because. It's all part of this. It's an aesthetic as much as it is an ideology. Yes. And they they are very into esthetics. Yeah. They are various aesthetically focused. This is, you know, one of their, actually, I'm rundo. We'll talk about this later actually. He'll he'll bring up this kind of topic when he gives advice for how to start these groups. And it's not like the OG Nazis weren't snappy dressers, you know extensive always been a big part of fascism was it's always been a giant part. Yeah. Yeah. So the group is, if you look at like if you look back in 2017 the group is kind of notable. To where it falls in the conservative to outright to neo-Nazi spectrum online, they were much more open about their white supremacist views than, say, the proud boys. But they weren't quite at like Atomwaffen levels. They they're kind of this little in between, between being like super openly, not see all the time, but also they're they're beyond just doing dog whistles like, you know, like they would they would post Hitler memes on social media and they would like share Daily Stormer articles, but when they're in like, in the streets. They they they they fell back and hid behind the anti immigrant pro Free Speech Pro traditional masculinity thing while also using a myriad of anti-Semitic dog whistles. And in an interview, I think Rondo said that someone asked him about quote the 14 words and one was like ohh haha well. I'll say I'm a fan of the 14 words like, he's like, so they they they were they were more open, 14 were streaming. Yeah, we must secure a future for, but it's a thing about how, like, we have to make the world safe for white children. It's it's it's it's a phrase that's 14 words that's a it's just, it's kind of a just a, a simple it's like a it's like it's it's almost like a code that people use back and forth to signal their ideology. Yeah. We've gone into detail with it about it in the war on everyone and the lot, the Rockwell episodes and a few other places. Yeah. Continue yeah. So they're they're a little bit more dog whistling in the streets more open online so they're it's kind of they fall into this weird kind of in between. I mean the proud boys are more open now than what they were in 2017. But even still you know they have it's it's it's a little different like rammed wouldn't allow people of color inside inside RAM whereas the proud boys do for you know whatever propaganda reasons. Here's here's how RAM described their group on an Instagram post from 2017 in a in June quote. We want to rise above all of today's destructive culture and see the rebirth of our people, strong and mental and physical capabilities as our forefathers were, in a time when you can be harmed for your political beliefs or ashamed for your heritage. We are here to defend our identity and shared goals. So like, that's the kind of, that's the kind of propaganda that you put out and like kind of like the phrasing that they use. There's this, there's a little bit of identity Europa kind of stuff, and this, this group ties into identity Europa a little bit later on, but they're, they're, they're, they're more, more more openly white supremacist than than than the proud boys at this point, definitely. N California Anti Racist action which is like an anti fascist information collective. They put together a really good piece on the early days of RAM back in July of 2017, way way before the mainstream media started paying attention in the wake of the violence that Charlottesville the anti racist act. Their anti racist action article describes ram like this. Note they they use some loaded terms here that will try to kind of define later but here's how anti racist action describes. Rams as as you know, as a as an organization, rise above movement is a loose collective of violent Neo Nazis and Fascists from Southern California. That's that organizes and trains primarily to engage in fighting and violence at political rallies. They've been a central participant in the recent wave of far right protest movements in California during the first half of 2017, which have attempted to mobilize a broad range of right wing constituents under the banner of protecting so-called free speech, yielding unyielding support for Trump and apathy towards Muslims. Immigrants and other oppressed groups. So, you know, when like, Berkeley was happening. And all these other things you know this group was was right there in California trying to capitalize on the new popularity that this kind of you know. Quote activism was doing with these you know lot lot lots of different right wing kind of rallies at this time back back back to the anti racist action kind of definition. The group's ideology comes appears to be a mishmash, mostly equal parts of identity europas flaccid identitarian discourse inspired itself by fascist organizations like generation identity from France and the and the fetishization of masculinity, physical fitness and violence mixed in with shallow anti corporate anti consumerist. Themes like in the film Fight Club, propaganda by the overwhelmingly, but the propaganda by the group overwhelmingly contains the usual fascistic themes of emasculated young men needing to reclaim their identities through learning to fight and engaging and purring a purifying violence. So very they're they basically are just a Nazi Fight Club. One of the things that's really interesting about not just RAM, but about kind of the way in which American fascism, you know, starting, like, not starting in 2016. Ramping up in 2016 and up through the Trump years, is it kind of recreated all the process that we saw happen in the early chunk of the 20th century, like and and RAM is specifically that we talked about Gabriel Denunzio in an earlier episode like that. He's all about the aesthetics. He's about manliness. He's about like, like, like the purifying nature of violence, the sacredness of action for action sake. Yeah, like they were at that stage of it. And obviously, like the kind of mainstream of American fascism has moved on. Have gotten much larger and more dangerous. But it's interesting to me that the same pattern has kind of repeated itself here. Yeah. And it was this was, this was all very intentional. Like if you look at like the anti racist action kind of brief definition or not, not supreme definition, then compare that to like, so this was a RAM. I'm going to ram post from a gab circa December 2017. So yeah. Robert, do you wanna explain what Gab is to the listeners that have a better life than we do? Yeah. Gab was the first Twitter for Nazis before Parlor was popular as Twitter for Nazis. And Gab largely became defunct after someone who had repeatedly talked about killing Jewish people on Gab shot 11 Jewish people to death at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Yeah, so here's here's here's a post from ram from from from Gab. Kind of echoing some sentiments that the anti racist, anti racist action article kind of laid out the rise above movement is the premier MMA Fight Club of the Alt right. Representing the United States, their dedication is to promote an active lifestyle and common values among young people and a future for European people. This is achieved through training, creative thinking and activism. The main task of RAM is to revive the spirit of a warrior and see the rebirth of the values of the Western civilizations forefathers. The spirit of the warrior, OK, yeah, the warrior spirit is going to be a big reoccurring theme here. I I was I I've been familiar with the warrior spirit kind of concept for a while because actually that there's there's a sector of the parkour community that talks about that so like I've been and I I was always weary of that even before I really knew what fascism was. I know it was just felt weird to me and felt a little problematic. Yeah, for sure. But we'll actually, we'll be talking about Warrior Spirit later on, probably more in the in Part 2 because there's, you know, a whole bunch of fascists writing about the warrior spirit or the warrior. Lifestyle warrior mentality or whatever. Of course, this also ties into police training, which I'm sure is just a coincidence. I'm sure there's no correlation. I'm sure there's no correlation between the esthetics, the aesthetics of violence, and the warrior culture that RAM appropriated and capitalized on, and the aesthetics of violence and warrior culture that is hugely popular among law enforcement and law enforcement trainers like Grossman. I'm sure there's there's absolutely no comparisons between. Any any of those things. It is fun, though, because RAM does hate law enforcement, which is gonna be very funny later. Well, yeah. Yeah, because and that's the like, you've got the two chunks of the right that are currently like the the there. There's like the hates cops because I'm an actual Nazi chunk of the right. And then there's the back of the blue chunk of the right. And at the moment in 2021, we seem to be watching the hates cops chunk of the right eating the back, the blue tight because now they're getting better by, which is very fun. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, we we will talk more. I don't hate it. Yeah, no, I'm fine with just watching from the sidelines. Yeah. Anyway, so in late 2017, in late 2017, Pro Publica interviewed a quote leader of RAM. So this is probably either Ben Daley or Robert Rundo, but it doesn't identify who. And here's what the article says on the actual, like, origin of the group quote. Ram, the leader said, came together organically. It started when he encountered a few other guys with similar political beliefs. Including two active duty U.S. Marines while exercising at different gyms in Southern California. They all liked Trump, but didn't think his agenda went far enough. The men began hanging out. Their numbers grew. Many came from rough backgrounds. They've been strung out on drugs or spent time behind bars and currently laboured at tough blue collar jobs. Soon they had a name and a mission they would physically take on the foes of the far right. So that's that's that's how they're kind of origin is described in that article based on the interview they did just some dudes hanging out in gyms talking about politics and realizing that they're all kind of Nazis, which they were. There's a lot of actually ties. There's lots of ties to the to the actual hammer skins, which we'll talk more about later, which again are like one of the first big Nazi Skinhead gangs. Yeah. And we're talking like 90s, early 2000s actually the first named US Antifa Group, Rose City Antifa formed to oppose. Hammerskin rally and I think 2006 in Portland. Yeah, we hammer skins will will come back here very soon. Rams combination of influences makes it pretty, makes it a pretty unique group inside the States and one I think that young men can be especially susceptible to under the right conditions. In their prime, RAM just utilized the same kind of meme centric social media outreach common among the alt right. The joke filled posts about white identity, victimhood and heritage while also being very lifestyle focused, emphasizing the importance of physical fitness, masculine athleticism. And St combat training, drawing from skinheads, in particular the Hammerskin Nation, who who also did combat training and actually they did combat training alongside RAM and RAM and hammer skins, shared a few members. I know one one thing wonder talks about when, like is when, like now when he's talking about, you know, advice for how to start groups and why he started this group is like he was upset that the Alt right fell into a few kind of factions and feel like he felt like his faction wasn't really represented. There was like the whole like. There was a whole like, you know, the Richard Spencer kind of smart, intellectual people in suits doing debates type thing. And there was like the the, the very Mimi, right. And then there was the very kind of larby right where, you know, dressed up in in like tactical gear and go stand in front of a building. And Rhonda thought all these were stupid. He's like, he's like, kid kids don't usually go dress up in suits and do debates like it's not really what that's not really what a lot of young kids do, but they do watch UFC. So this this so this is this is this is what his kind of big thing was was like if if I can get the kids that watch UFC, like if I get like the young teens that do that I think that's gonna be more of a breeding ground and like the Richard Spencer dressing up in suits trying to look all like cool. I mean ******* Joe Rogan proves them right in that that's not a dumb tactic. No, it's not. Which is why I want to talk about this and we need to like watch out for this in the next few years because he is right about that. I mean I would dress up in suits and. Two debates, but that I'm. I'm me. Yeah. You wear a bow tie. Yeah. So it's, it's, I'm a I'm a little different there. No tie. Yeah, my yeah, that's that's that's where it comes from. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, let's see. Oh yeah, here in in a in a in a YouTube video, which we'll talk more about his rundo's YouTube videos later. But here's here. This is a this is a quote from one of his YouTube videos. I can't remember what chapter it is in Mein Kampf, but the one that he says that we need. We need more people to take a boxing than we need intellectuals. Uh, yeah. So I mean, and kind of perfectly embodying that by saying, I don't remember where in my uncomfort was, but somewhere, somewhere in there, there's a quote. So apparently when when Rundo was in jail, he was like, allowed a copy of Mine Kampf. That's like a bad idea. Not a not a good, not a good idea. But people can't have dice to play dungeons and Dragons. Say tannic, Robert. They might use it to gamble. Oh, and that yeah. SO11 key element that separates RAM from skinheads is their aesthetic. Instead of shaved heads, bomber jackets and boots, they have, you know, tapered fashion haircuts that became common among 2017 half skull masks popularized by popularized by Adam Waffen. And as California's anti racist action perfectly puts it quote Richard Spencer in active wear kind of look, which does does really kind of describe what these guys look like. I I just hate that. That's a sentence somebody wrote. Yeah and it's it's frustrating how accurate it is. Yeah the the active wear thing will be circling back to you multiple times because as seemingly another big influence for the group is the Russian white supremacist to mix martial arts clothing company called White Rex which we'll we'll we'll talk about a few more times later on on the note of one other note on the lifestyle brand element from the anti anti racist action article quote, the group's propaganda also emphasizes in anti drug or straight edge message. Which is, again, a common theme among certain segments of the Neo Nazis who view substances excluding alcohol, apparently as part of the global Jewish conspiracy to weaken the white race. Despite this, many members use a wide range of substances and have histories of being arrested for like drunken fighting and possession in the past. Just a ton of them. Yeah, yeah, 1 Rand member Tyler Laub has a long history of arrests for driving under the influence, drunk and fighting, carrying a switchblade and robbery. He also he actually managed to get himself shot during a drunken fight in, like, 2014. See, these are the kind of people who need to hear the gospel of my favorite drink, the actual the lifestyle beverage that I push for behind the ******** a 2020 highball, which I'm now rolling over into a 2021 highball, which my my New Year's recipe for this is you get a pint glass, you fill that pint glass up 80% of the way with 409, and then you put no, no, just just a dash of medical bleach. And you gotta make sure it's medical bleach, steal it from a hospital, break into a hospital with a gun, steal some medical bleach and a dollop of that on top of the 409 and then just a scosche of lemon. Don't do any of that. I think. I think it'll cure the Nazi problem. It'll it'll deal. Yeah, exactly. If we can get the Nazis drinking 2021 eyeballs, we'll have less of a problem with them. Robbery because of the tell. Can we meet the part where people have to go guns blazing into a hospital? You don't have to go guns. Idealist. American thing. You can do Sophie. If you carry out an armed robbery in a hospital, they'll probably let you take the bleach. OK, this is not a Batman movie. This is behind the ******** and it's time for an ad break. Don't do any of that ****. God, Speaking of crimes, like to hear the voice, the services that support this podcast. Mint Mobile offers premium wireless starting at just 15 bucks a month. And now for the plot twist. Nope, there isn't one. Mint Mobile just has premium wireless from 15 bucks a month. There's no trapping you into a two year contract. You're opening the bill to find all these nuts fees. There's no luring you in with free subscriptions or streaming services that you'll forget to cancel and then be charged full price for none of that. For anyone who hates their phone Bill, Mint Mobile offers premium wireless for just $15.00 a month. Mint Mobile will give you the best rate whether you're buying one or for a family. And it meant. Family start at 2 lines. All plans come with unlimited talk and text, plus high speed data delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any mint mobile plan and keep your same phone number along with all your existing contacts. Just switch to Mint mobile and get premium wireless service starting at 15 bucks a month. Get premium wireless service from just $15.00 a month and no one expected plot twists at mintmobile.com/behind. 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Visit betterhelp.com behind today to get 10% off your first month. That's better helpp.com/behind betterhelp.com/behind. Hey, Robert Evans here. It's been like two months since I got LASIK laser eye surgery and my vision still 2020. So many things about my daily life has changed. I don't have to worry about putting on a mask and my glasses fogging up and have to take out contacts at night or put them in the day. I don't have to like, worry all the time when I'm traveling. Like, how many contacts do I have by go swimming at the lake during the summer? Something I like to do, go to the beach or whatever. I don't have to worry about losing a contact or, you know, bringing swimming glasses or something. With me, everything is just easier. And getting it done was easy too. You know, I went in, I had my consultation, they told me I was a good candidate and then I went back in couple of days later about it being about a boom. You know, my eyes were perfect. So LASIK Plus is a leader in laser vision correction in the United States. They have over 20 years in the industry and more than two million treatments performed. If you want to start your LASIK plus journey, you can get $1000 off when treated in September. That's 500 per eye. So visitmylasikoffer.com to schedule your free. Consultation now. Alright, we're back. Please continue Garrison. Yay. No, no drugs for these Nazis. So so they say except for drinking and driving except for a lot of alcohol. But I mean like Rundo does truly believe in the straight edge thing. Like they like in in terms of like drugs and stuff. They they they they really are anti drug use show was Hitler except for all the methamphetamine. But yeah and also like a Tyler. Tyler loved the guy that got into a who got shot. During a drunken fight, was it like, as was in, like, a Xanax club when that happened? So, like, come on, like, come on. Come on, buddy. Like you. Yeah, man. Medicinal drugs don't count, bro. Yeah, but, like, they they they actually are serious about the whole strict, strange, strange thing in terms of like, in terms of propaganda, at least. Yeah. Yeah. And it's definitely like, that's a pretty common stream among Nazis. Like, you have to keep yourself pure and healthy for the race. Yeah. Yeah. And. Speaking of propaganda, ran themselves relied heavily on social media propaganda for recruiting. They would often produce videos of them doing combat training or working out per the SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center. Their promotional media is quote targeted towards men who find the idea of a real world Fight Club appealing. White supremacy supplies justification for violence and ultimately this group has been about street fighting, which I don't fully agree with. The last part there I spent way, way too much time reading about RAM and watching their videos this past. Like 2 weeks. And they absolutely care about white supremacy, maybe above all else, but I can see truth in elements of truth in this sentiment. And we'll come back to this topic later when we talk about Rams cofounder Robert Runder more because I think there is definitely a little bit of that violence about everything in him. But I mean there it is very, you know, there's there is a lot of white supremacy. It's it's not just finding a justification for violence, it is also they just really care about white supremacy. But back-to-back to social media propaganda. From from from from the Ram account. They would post videos, pictures and memes of posting over the people they beat up, usually showcasing footage or photos of the assaults. And of course this would all kind of, this wasn't a great idea. I mean, it was good for recruiting, but this would absolutely contribute to their downfall because, you know, they're just bragging about all the crimes they're doing and very explicit detail. So the the ironic thing is that they stress that people quote get offline and get active and to quit non-stop meming despite their incriminating non-stop meming about the people that they've beat up and they and they're non-stop producing a propaganda videos which I mean I I I get yeah yeah you know you need to recruit and stuff but you know when you have such a such a they have such a such a focus on like the getting offline type of thing despite their heavily mostly online presence to for for recruiting. Another gab gab post from January 2018 says the a new year and a new direction for the Alt right. Time to leave behind the online memes and countless hours shitposting and act like we really do want a world that exists beyond discords and edgy websites. Train, organize, get active, repeat. So I mean, I get it, right? They want to recruit new members and get away from the alt rights kind of keyboard warrior, Gamergate kind of history. They're not the ones who like being associated with *******. Pepes and ****? No. They they find it very annoying, and they find a lot of people spend that too much time doing that instead of beating up children in the streets or killing Jewish people or whatever. So be like this type of propaganda is the easiest way to encourage and influence people to take real-world action. But I still appreciate the irony and the complete lack of security culture that they have in terms of non-stop posting about people they've beat up like they were. They were constantly make memes about the people that they're like beat up in the streets, like non-stop. It was. It's amazing and it's. I mean, part of that is like it. It's silly that they did that, but it's not as unwise as I guess it might seem, because, again, the cops never went after those people for a long time. Along, yeah. It's mean the the cops never did. They got in trouble with the with the FBI later, but we'll yeah, we'll talk about why. But yeah, it's that there's a reason in general why they're right is so bad at security culture, and it's because the cops tend to like them. Yep. Yeah, it doesn't. Yeah. So in the vein of like, moving beyond online posting and into real, real world action, it's time to discuss what RAM actually did at rallies and who these and who these people are. So Rams public debut was in March 2017 at a MAGA rally in Huntington Beach, CA. At this point, there are probably about a dozen people and they were still calling themselves the DAD I division. They they held a massive banner that read a defend America holding above it. There was a sign that. That red daglian know which is a a variance of of that phrase or a popularity anti-Semitic phrase among the right. I'm not gonna explain what it means, but believe you me, it's very anti-Semitic. So at the Huntington Beach Rally, ran members were the first ones to start fights with anti fascists. That soon turned into a very messy brawl. Fights initially started when a RAM member later identified as Tyler Lobb, the same guy who got into a drunken street fight and got shot at a Xanax club. Same guy he's he's he's he started stuff by attacking a POC journalist and punched them repeatedly in the face. Then Ram count cofounder Robert Rundo, who also leads, all, like, their fight training. He is predominantly seen in the pictures unmasked and in videos pummeling a black block protester on the ground with his fists and elbows. Footage of the attack becomes a meme for the Alt right and is used heavily in recruitment propaganda. At this time we have terrible nicknames being given to a whole bunch of right wing kind of St people, so he he got nicknamed based Elbow Man, which is very, very stupid but you know, again, this is used for meming and propaganda and and recruiting. Despite clear evidence, yeah, it's not. It's not fun. I mean, we're gonna. I will probably imagine the nickname alongside such luminaries as based stick man. Don't don't worry, Robert. We're talking about. We're talking about you, stick man. Oh, good, good. I love Kyle Chapman. He's coming up. Don't worry. He ties into RAM 2. Everyone does. Even. Even even Joey Gibson ties into RAM at some point. It's great that the names the nicknames of all of these chuds who are only noteworthy for hitting people. In the face and not getting arrested will be stuck in my head until the end of my days. Yet I don't know the name of, I don't know, like the sniper who tried to kill me. It's very, very fun. I love America. Despite clear evidence of the assault, police do not rush. Police do not arrest Rundo Nord. He ever face city or state charges? No, I wouldn't. Yeah. Alternatively, police were quick to arrest three anti fascists in Huntington Beach who defended themselves from the defended themselves, PC journalists and others from Rams attacks. The three anti fascists were charged with quote felony illegal use of pepper spray. Hmm. Yeah, that'll really **** you up. That pepper spray they charged with a felony for using pepper spray for defending themselves against Nazis. Thankfully, yeah. Thankfully, 3 months later the the DA dropped the charges because they were stupid. Yeah, because they were. Because it was lunacy. Yeah, but the police decided to arrest three IT fascists that day and let all the Nazis go and charge them with their life up with. I mean, like if it doesn't charge you forever if it gets dropped, but it ***** you up all those charges. We're on you, like, yeah, I mean, I just applied for citizenship and if I was ever charged with something that was dropped, I would have to put that on my application. I was charged with felony right at this. At this one point, translator dropped. But I still have to say that, that that you have to put that in a lot of stuff. It's terrible. That's why I'm glad you're much faster than the cops. And I'm glad that I got my stuff. Paper, all papers all submitted now, which is which is good. Anyway. Felony illegal use of pepper spray, which is maybe one of the funniest felonies that I've ever heard. Besides, I've lost count of the number of people who have pepper sprayed me at rallies. So many like August 22nd alone. There's so much Mace in the air. Yeah, it was also I I got I got maced by DHS like 4 nights ago. They had giant. They they they had Mace cannon. Yeah, I saw those. the Super soakers. Yeah, they had made super soakers. I would constitute that a felony. Illegal use of pepper spray, but whatever. Anyway, see, it's been. Months since I've been maced by DHS. Now you've got me jealous. I was great, actually. The, the the tear gas was a little pleasant. It was a little nostalgic because it was only a little bit, and it was, it was it was almost fun. But just a whiff, so let's flash flash forward to April 15th, like a month after this mega rally in Huntington Beach. But April 15th, Berkeley, CA. This is when Ram first came under the eyes of anti fascist researchers. This was the second big Berkeley rally with upwards of 1000 people. This is when RAM starts making connections with other neo-Nazi alt right groups. Ram themselves attended the rally with the neo-Nazi quote, race realist group identity Europa, and they they actually like carpooled with its leader and of and a leader who is a former Marine, Nathan Domingo. Which side note here, I always thought Domingo was like in his 40s or 50s because he looks very old, but he's like 34. It's shocking. I was so confused. The cocaine, which they don't. Talk about because they're a little too smart to usually talk about it, but all of these guys are doing a ******** of blow, especially the proud boys like it ages, these *************. It's amazing. He was born in 1986, which he looks 50 years old. Yeah, he's two years older than me. Shocking. I was. I was very surprised. Anyway, Ram carpooled with this ******* who's also a who's also a convicted felon for doing a racist armed robbery of a Middle Eastern cab driver. And he's also a former marine. Domingo got national attention on April 15th. After footage went viral of him sucker punching a 95 pound woman, this not only turns Domingo into an alt right meme slash hero, they gave identity ropa a lot of Free Press and LED to a harassment campaign against the victim's Mother Jones reports quote. After the punching video went viral, the Alt right unleashed a doxing campaign against the victim and her family, publishing their home address, phone numbers at home address, and phone numbers online. She received rape threats and other abusive messages and images of ***********. Work that she's done were turned into memes. And posted on her grandmother's Facebook page. So. That's not great that they assaulted someone and then harassed them online for a long time afterwards. Yeah, but in in said viral footage, right behind Domingo, you can see a young man in a Gray shirt, half skull mask, shaved sides, and black goggles with orange lenses. This is Robert Bowman, a Rand member wearing what would become the RAM uniform, Gray, active wear, skull mask, goggles, and that Richard Spencer haircut. Members would also usually have their hands taped up, MMA style. Earlier that day, RAM co-founder Robert Rundo attacked anti fascist demonstrators after they insulted him about skipping leg days at the gym. So, OK, well, he's right on that. You never insult a man's squads. So, so so teenagers is insulting him about his leg, about him not doing leg days. And then also, apparently, they insulted him for having a presumably small penis. Triggered by the jokes, rundo crossed over police barricades and started attacking random people. I bet he suffered serious legal consequences for breaking across a police barricade to assault people. Rundo was briefly arrested and then let go the same day. Released without charges. Ohh cool. Why would you charge me with anything? Yeah, sure. No, of course, like he went over a police barricade to beat up teenagers after they insulted his legs. I don't know how to respond to this without being petty, so that's but I love how often police have like shoved and threatened us with arrest for standing in a street. Instead of a sidewalk when the street was closed to traffic, but he gets to charge across a police barricade and punch people. It's ******* rules. Ohh I love America. At the anti racist action article points out quote, Rondo's actions clearly show a desire to not only escalate the situation to violence, but also a desire to physically provoke an attack anti fascists at all costs. Nathan Domingo of Identity Europa was also never arrested or charged over his assaulting of a very small woman despite bragging about it, unlike mainstream news outlets like he bragged about his his assault and nothing ever happened to him because again, why? Later that day other RAM members including Tim Gillen, Robert Bellman, Spencer Curry and Co founder Benjamin Daley can be seen in their RAM uniform assaulting various anti fascists and then bragging about it on social media while posting pictures of the attacks. And what what what what made ram different in these St brawls was their ability to attack as a unit because they all trained together on a weekly basis. Like they actually, you know, like they they actually did physical combat training together. So like they they attacked not as just individuals, but they attacked as a group. They're described as by Pro Publica as, quote, fighting as a pack while sacking someone. Remember, Robert Bowman got pepper sprayed in the face with his goggles down and then he was what I should have gave out. He was. He was ushered to safety by Joey Gibson as about Patriot prayer is a fun little Italian for people in the Pacific Northwest. That that. Yeah, so Joey Gibson saved one of the Ram people after getting pepper sprayed, even though he had goggles. They just weren't on, I guess. I don't know. But yeah, this whole whole fighting is a pack thing which made them a little bit more formidable in combat versus like the proud boys, which generally do not attack as a group and they mainly attack us individuals. So that's what made them a little bit more effective in combat. We we still have a few more Nazi crossovers to get to here at the Berkeley rally. Ram also teamed up with a white nationalist, videographer and live streamer, Vincent James Fox. Vincent Woodstream the rallies via YouTube and his website. Vincent previously was friendly with Ryan at Huntington Beach Rally. He's the one that dubbed Rondo as based Albo, man. Great great Vincent. James would not only happily cover these far right tax, he would also like incite them. He can be heard yelling get the *******. Look, as five grand members jump a black, black protester and began beating on them. So basically the guy with the video camera would like be behind ramp people. You're like, point out different people to attack and then would go attack that person and then they would go back and attack someone else. After after rallies, Vincent would make propaganda videos for Ram M and and he hands them all of his footage for RAM to make their own videos and memes and stuff. So like we had, they had they had like this kind of like relationship circle here for like they would protect him at a rally and he would give them footage to do propaganda stuff with. Awesome. Yeah, not, not, not, not great. Again, none of these people really got in trouble for this with the city police or state police at all and they would only get in trouble like many years later after like. Dozens of articles are posted about them, you know, beating up random people and even still their charges are miniscule compared to what anti fascists get. The thing that is should be clear to everyone about the Nazis is that like this current swarm of Nazis that are about to descend on dead will have descended on DC for the third time by the time this this episode airs. Is that like if one of two things that happened, either one, the first time they beat up a bunch of people, several of them had received serious felony charges and had been prosecuted, or if the first time they've come out to beat up a bunch of people? They had been surrounded by a swarm of counter demonstrators and pummeled. They would not have kept coming out and none of this would still be a problem. It would have looked like **** for them and they wouldn't have kept going out into the street because it wouldn't have been there. They like the fact that they were not. The fact that they were able to continue doing this and have positive experiences getting to beat people up, getting it on video, getting their fun nicknames, getting **** go viral and they didn't suffer consequences from law enforcement. And they weren't. There just weren't enough people at a lot of these rallies to, like, really beat them into the ******* ground. Or if there were, the cops stopped them from doing it. Like, that's why they're still here. That's why this is still a problem. Very frustrating, yeah, still still a problem. It's going to be for for at least a while still. Eagle Eyed Anti fascists noticed Ramco founder Ben Daley doing a particular salute at the Berkeley Rally, a closed fist Roman salute that moves in and that moves into an ex with both arms and both fists clenched, which is the hammer skins history nerd. Yeah, sure. So I know I mentioned a few times already. We've, I guess we've already kind of talked about them a little bit, but they're they're they're considered to be the largest or most widespread Nazi Skinhead organization. They have numerous ties to brutal white supremacists. Assaults, beatings and murders in 2012 of a quote. Fully patched hammerskin member. An army veteran. If you see a pattern here. I keep mentioning all a lot of these people are in the Marines or in the army because this is a pattern here. But fully patched hammers remember an Army veteran Wade Michael Page massacre six people inside a sick temple inside a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in in a yeah. So he he what this is? Yeah. 2012 six people. Side in this attack, there's been about probably like a there's been like around, like a dozen other hammerskin murders in the past few decades across the globe. In 2017 Ben Dalene Rams started actively recruiting hammerskin members. Skyler Siegburg whatever, stupid name, Matthew Brandstetter also dumb name, and Spencer Curry. Anyway, there's 3333 noted hammer skins that anti fascists have like repeatedly identified joined RAM until in 2017 with Skyler and Spencer being part of a hammerskin band because again, these are the type of Nazis that have like quote quote quote UN quote punk bands. Which you know. Bonnie Punk will say is actually, you know, it's not punk, it's anti punk. Yeah. You kind of can't be punk. And also in favour of the state using massive force to institute genocide. That's not super popular. Not really punk. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So like these people were in like, you know, Skinhead bands and a match bronze stetter or whatever stupid name is and accomplice beat beat a Jewish man unconscious and robbed him in Orange County Park back in 2011. Which was like a noted like Hammerskin attack. So like same guy now active in RAM and all these guys are like in their 20s now, right? So like this, this is they, they're not like old guys. They're like they were doing this as teens and they're doing, you know, and they were doing stuff like ram in their 20s. They're still, they're still in their 20s. Brandstetter, whatever his name is, was convicted of aggravated assault and a with a hate crime enhancement and sent to prison for 20 months for beating this Jewish man unconscious back Megan, back in like 2020 eleven. The anti anti racist action article notes quote many of these individuals such as Skylar also connected with neo-Nazi members of groups such as the Golden State Skinheads whom Estab 6 anti fascists and anti racist protesters in Sacramento in June of like 2016 under the banner of the Traditional Workers Party or Traditionalist Workers Party. So it's clear that the yeah yeah it's clear, it's clear. The DI Division as it's known back then is a political collective working hard to bridge the gap between the more Internet based Alt right brand of white. Nationalism just targeted to appeal to a young girl, which generally educated upper class white man and the more traditional boots on the ground, and St violence tactics characterized by neo-Nazi Skinhead politics. So again, they're trying to kind of bridge this gap between kind of getting into the street and doing fighting. We'll also still recruiting young people online, which is why I am particularly concerned with what this, you know, what a similar organization could do in the next few years. So after this big rally in Berkeley. Ram also connected with far right figure Kyle Chapman. Umm, who? I don't know. I I don't know if he deserves ambassadors episode because he is just incredibly stupid, but this is, you know, he he just like he punches people a lot. Yeah this is basic manashi stuff. She she was part of the proud boys for a little bit. He started the Fraternal Order of the Alt Nights again. Super nerd. Like like like RAM actually hates all these people. Like Runner will talk about this like he he he hates nerds, right? So it's it's very fun to watch his videos because it could be. Building all these like idiots who are like Larping. It's very funny, but yeah, he's this. Kyle did this fraternal order of the Alt Knights, he started a resist Marxism, which turned into Super Happy Fun America, which did that Boston Straight Pride parade, all the same guy who basically was behind all these things is very, very funny. Also very dangerous. And also I think more recently a proud boy stuff, but that's a known at the moment. Yeah, couchman, all this stuff he got connected with RAM. After the Berkeley rally in the next few months, RAM also connected with various other people affiliated with the Proud Boys, including one Cavitated AKA Johnny Benitez and quote Luke based Skywalker Dennis, which I find offensive. Yes, as as a Luke Skywalker fan I I don't appreciate that, but these are all proud boys noted for beating up people on streets during the same time, so they all they all got acquainted. In in the spring and summer of 2017 RAM and the proud boys would put on little like monthly get togethers and on the on different like California beaches. One of these meetups was named America first remembering the victims of illegals and refugees so like they would just do like basically monthly beach parties with proud boys and ranch. First of all they all live at the beach like. Like Robert Rundo had, like, a beachside house, I mean, and there's gonna appreciate that ****. There's a conversation to be said about some of the intersections of fascism and surfer culture like it is. It is a thing that's been written about. Yeah, that that math does add up, but I don't appreciate it. Very frustrating. Very frustrating. Very frustrating. Which is great because when we had a not super Nazi, but like, noted Alt right figure from Portland moves to a beach town. Like last year. And then anti fascists got her fired from her job at the beach. That's actually yeah. I'd say she was like working at the Safeway Bakery and she got fired. She got she got fired because she took a leave of absence, because they were giving any worker who was scared of the coronavirus a leave of absence. And she took a leave of absence, claiming she was scared of the virus and then immediately organized an anti mask rally. Yeah. In the same. Yeah. It's it's great. It's good. Yeah. You know what else is great and good and. Hopefully helps keep us employed. Robert 2021, highball no. Shot at 409 in hospital. Bleach with a sprig of lemon. Jesus. Yeah. Ah, now you wanna drink it real fast, you can get a second one in you as quick as possible. It's the doubling up that really makes it work. I'll take. I'll take some notes. Garrison. No. Oh yeah, Garrison, you're you're a growing man, you know, you need a 409 cocktails. You do not need that. You're finally done. My coffee. And that means it's time to listen to these. Maybe. Kathy adds from maybe a ohh yeah, I hope we get another black rifle coffee. Yeah, I swear to God, if we get a nice another black rifle coffee yet, I will jump. The only coffee company that's been repeatedly forced to disavow Kyle Rittenhouse because he likes their product and has also been attacked by its primary customers for disavowing Kyle Rittenhouse because they made their brand fascism coffee. Are you tired of ************ with a cup of normal coffee while watching watching Hitler speeches in that case? By Black rifle coffee, the only coffee that makes sense to masturbate to Hitler, too. Thank you, black rifle. I I resign. Here we go. Mint Mobile offers premium wireless starting at just 15 bucks a month. And now for the plot twist. Nope, there isn't one meant mobile just has premium wireless from 15 bucks a month. There's no trapping you into a two year contract. You're opening the bill to find all these nuts fees. 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If you're having trouble stuck in your own head, focusing on problems dealing with depression, or just you know can't seem to get yourself out of a rut, you may want to try therapy. And better help makes it very easy to get therapy that works with your lifestyle and your schedule. A therapist can help you become a better problem solver, which can make it easier to accomplish your goals, no matter how big or small they happen to be. So if you're thinking of giving therapy a try. Better help is a great option. It's convenient, accessible, affordable, and it is entirely online. You can get matched with a therapist after filling out a brief survey. And if the therapist that you get matched with doesn't wind up working out, you can switch therapists at any time when you want to be a better problem solver therapy can get you there. Visit betterhelp.com behind today to get 10% off your first month. That's better helpp.com/behind betterhelp. Com slash behind hey Robert Evans here. It's been like two months since I got LASIK laser eye surgery and my vision still 2020. So many things about my daily life has changed. I don't have to worry about putting on a mask in my glasses fogging up and have to take out contacts at night or put them in the day. I don't have to like, worry all the time when I'm traveling. Like, how many contacts do I have by going swimming at the lake during the summer? Something I like to do, go to the beach or whatever. I don't have to worry about losing a contact or, you know, bringing swimming glasses or something with me. Everything is just easier. And getting it done was easy too. You know. I went in, I had my consultation. They told me I was a good candidate. And then I went back in a couple of days later about a Bing bada boom. You know, my eyes were perfect. So LASIK Plus is a leader in laser vision correction in the United States. They have over 20 years in the industry and more than two million treatments performed. If you want to start your LASIK plus journey, you can get $1000 off when treated in September. That's 500 per eye. So visit my LASIK offer. Dot com to schedule your free consultation now. Well, that was a great coffee. Thanks, Robert, for sending me my Christmas coffee this year. Anyway, we're back from the ad break and I did not get Black rifle coffee because it probably seems terrible. No, we drink death wish coffee in this house. Yeah. You have not given us money, but who? I quite like you. You know what I miss? Robert is going to the beach to look at the ocean. Which the Nazis got to do a lot with the with the proud boys. Which is weird because you know Graham was very like openly not see at this point and Gavin McGinnis was still trying to convince people that he that his gang wasn't racist or fascist at this point. And you know we guess would insist Neo Nazis don't exist anymore. She's a bit it's a bit hard to parse when RAM is doing monthly beach Hangouts with with the proud boys so. Well, interesting thing there, yeah, but an observation that the entire section article makes is quote what's clear is that both these groups need each other. The proud boys need the numbers and muscle of the of the Neo Nazis where the Neo Nazis need the cover of the pro Trump groups. I think it's a really good observation at this time in like you know for for 2017 for how this was kind of a symbiotic relationship that they kind of both needed to to survive at the time. Speaking Speaking of Nazis at the beach back in back in Huntington Beach in May of 2017, RAM members gathered around a beach fire at A at A at A at a public beach next to the ocean with a swastika, sanrad and Iron Cross and Celtic runes for scribble launches of the fire pits. And the Huntington Beach is so nice. This is so. And they were also flying an American, a Confederate, an iron cross, and a black sun flag there. Oh, wow. Really? Getting the trifecta? Not try that at 4:00. That's four, right? Quad Garrison? I can't count Robert. Anyway. Count America, Confederate, black Son, my sister. Well, we're all flying. So what? What do so unmasked band members are seeing. Tim Gellan and Ben Dailey are seeing the pictures. So what do you think these free speech Crusaders are doing? Near a big beach fire in the middle of the day. What do you what do you think? Do you think they're up to? I don't know. Maybe burning crosses? They're doing a book. Burning clothes. Ohh, book burning. Ohh good. OK, same diff. Yeah? What book do you? Because I have the script. Haha. I am your overlord. What? What book do you think that? What do you think that that what do you think they're burning? Oh geez. What book would they burn? This is a game. Oh man, there's like, there's like there's like 5 right answers. So yeah yeah, ohh OK, I have. I'm. I don't know. I really, I really don't know. There's there's there's too many possibilities. One guy catcher in the rye. No, they they probably like that book, actually. Robert, Robert, Robert. More think more ******. What's like what's like something that like is really ******. It that's something that 20 year old Neo Nazis are going to burn at the beach. Oh, probably like the Torah. They got a copy of the Torah. And I mean, maybe. But anyway, among the books being tossed in the fire were Anne Frank, the diary of a young girl. Ohhh. Yeah, that makes sense. The. The novelization of Schindler's list? Yep. So the novelization of Shin. OK, alright, that's creative. The Jewish the Jewish book of why Cultural Pluralism. After Hitler's hell and also they burned the 9/11 Commission report. But I'm well, now that makes sense because, like, you don't have to be a Nazi to know the jet fuel can't melt steel beams. Ohhh. But yeah, they burned at least twenty other books, though, that they deemed culturally Marxist or Jewish enough to be burned. So yeah, they had themselves in a a little a little book burning in May on the beach, flying a black sun flag back when that's very no one knew what a black sun flag was. I guess still I'll still a lot of people don't. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, that's what they were doing. Tudor put on his body armor. Yeah, I mean I'll mention this later, but Robert Rondo eventually gets a black son elbow tattoo. Bad. OK, cool guy. Cool. Yeah. Anyway, quick, quick rundown of some of Rams activities pre pre August 2017. Well Los Angeles, CA May 1st remembers attended the Mayday actions hoping to get into fights with left wing activists. San Bernardino, CA. June 2017 remembers participated in a quote anti Sharia law protest in a protesting a bill that would make quote protesting, protesting in support of a bill that would make quote practicing Sharia law illegal. She's very, very dumb. That's not how laws work. They they held signs that read rape Fugees stay away, not welcome. Another sign that was like defend America Islamists out with and that that that that depicted a Lance Lance wielding crusaders on horseback, chasing away fleeing Muslims. So that's that's that's in June. Great. Also not super historically accurate because. Let's just say Crusader cavalry didn't have **** on saladine. Hmm. But I don't think people really care about history that much about what happened during the actual crusades. Yeah, no, not really. Set Torrance, CA. July 2017 remembers Hung a quote. Secure Borders secure Future banner over the. 110 highway or freeway, freeway to say I don't know what to say. Local, local. I know there's like certain ways to say the numbers 110, it's the one 10120. 110 yeah, great you were. You were cool and hip, dude, I know all the California highways now like the I5. Ohh no that Canadians aren't allowed further S than Redding. And then finally in also in July 2017, in some in in Santa Monica remembers attempted to to disrupt a committee for Racial justice meeting. Also, at the time, a lot of Rand members were working at a tree trimming business that was run by Benjamin Daley. So, like, they were all working at their gang, the only job they could get. Yeah, yeah, so yeah. It's fun looking. I mean, their business is currently shut down because Benjamin Daley is currently in prison for things he will do later, but it's fun going to you you get. But his Yelp page is still up, so you can like read reviews of like people saying, hey, you're a ******* Nazi and he's like, oh, how rude it is. Yeah, it's real real stupid, real real dumb. So anyway, this this leads up to August 2017 and the Unite the right rally. At this point Ram RAM claimed to have over 50 members, although it was way more likely they had around 10 to 15 guys and were just lying about their numbers to make them seem seem bigger than what they actually were. But due to their social media presence, they had gained a national reputation as like an intense white supremacist Street Fighter group. Tim Gallin and Ben Daley are front and center and one of the most widely circulated photos of the Tiki Torch rally. They're like, right there. You can see, you can see their little, little faces because they have both. Have they both have very unique heads. So, yeah, they're they're from the center on August 11th, the night before, you know, the big the big day on August 12th, both men, Gillen and Daily, had a gun charges from 2014, actually, and Gillen had been jailed for illegal possession of an unserialized handgun, and Daley was arrested and convicted of illegally carrying a concealed snub nosed 357 Magnum revolver. So they both these guys here apparently had gun charges. Well, I don't think they were carrying at this time, but a lot of people made that note. So I'm like, OK, I guess I'll put it into. Sure. Yeah. And a lot of people, a lot of these guys who can't legally carry or own guns still do because, again, the police very rarely punish them for breaking the law. Yeah. So these guys were chanting, you know, you will not replace us. Jews will not replace us. Chance. Alongside fellow band member Cole White. Unfortunate name for a Nazi and hundreds of other young men. So they were there was there was at least three or four people from RAM there that night of chanting. The the right members in Charlottesville participated in attacking the anti racist anti fascist protesters at the University of Virginia campus when the hundreds of Nazis surrounded the few dozen people holding an anti racist banner. So the RAM was a part of the attack on the people in front of the statue that night. The next day, August 12th at the main units right event, at least four members were present and can be seen attacking anti fascist counter protesters starting very early on in the day when I was, I mean I was looking through old footage for this, for writing and I was able to actually like I was, I was. I've been reading enough about these guys and watching other videos and I was like it was like pick out people just like just with my own eyes without having to pause or anything. I could like track certain people throughout the crowd because they were very active in beating up a lot of people on a on August 12th. Ben Daley, Tim Galen, Cole White and Michael Miselis, all these guys were attacking people this day. The ladder, which is also a documented attacking people back in Berkeley. It's Michael Miselis, who is also a PhD student at the UCLA and pressed government security clearance for work on sensitive research at defense contractor Northrop Grumman. So that's good. No, it's not. Like that it's not. It's not. It's not ideal, but at least it's at least it's not our dear friends over at Raytheon. Raytheon, that would really break my heart. But Raytheon is still pure and one of the best LGBT employers in the nation. Because it Raytheon, we don't care what you believe or who you love. We just care that you're willing to make a missile guidance chip that we can use to detonate a school bus in Yemen filled with 33 children. That's all that matters to Raytheon. And I think that's beautiful. I think it's beautiful, Garrison. Maybe. Maybe you can give in a good word for Michael Miselis. No, no, they won't hire Nazis at Raytheon. Ohh. OK. Yeah. So eventually he was fired from Northrop Grumman. I'm getting right. What? Following reporting of him, you know, being a Nazi. But yeah, kind of concerning. He had government security clearance to work on, like sensitive research. So that's not ideal. I don't like it, guys. I don't. I don't. So after unite the right and the murder of Heather Heyer. Fruit and tea was finally put on these new alt right groups. Ram leader interviewed by Pro Publica stated that after August he the group is quote trying to stay away from rallies. Because, you know, they killed somebody and beat up, you know, dozens of other people. So for over a year after unite the right, the only legal struggle, the only legal trouble Ram had gotten into was when Rob Rundo was briefly detained in Berkeley. But so far they had faced no no, no actual consequences for their assaults, despite bragging about them all over social media. Well, that slowly started to change a little bit. Between October 17, October 2017 and August 2018, Pro Publica and PBS Frontline had began reporting on RAM and their involvement. And the violent activities and violent attacks. A lot of the research done on RAM was first actually done and made public by N California Anti racist action and they're really good article that they put out on RAM from July 2017, which I've already quoted from a lot. And unfortunately I mean pro publica and Frontline did a good job getting this reporting out to the mainstream, but unfortunately most of their work is actually heavily plagiarized between. It's plagiarized mostly from all all the RAM. Stuff is plagiarized mostly from the anti racist action article and they also did stuff on a Atomwaffen, which they played. Raised a lot of work from Jake Hanrahan on and I know like a like frontline one like Emmys for this work and stuff. They were Hewlett Sir. Like they yeah they wanna kill Jake and his partner were initially left off of the people. Yeah, it's very frustrating. And they stole most of this work actually. Yeah, extremely frustrating, but it did get the reporting into like the mainstream. So we got. People upset about it. So that pressured the FBI to actually take some action. But again they didn't really credit who did the actual work. And it's very, yeah very, very frustrating. But we will yeah, that's I mean for for Ram N California anti anti racist action did amazing, amazing work identifying all of these random people, finding out lots of information about them. They were they were like they all did this like before before, like like before the the the Charlottesville rally. Like they did this. Before it was, you know, popular to start naming these people. So great, great work there guys. So with with mounting evidence against RAM from multiple sources, including more and more mainstream outlets, because I mean the Guardian and other, you know, articles from mainstream. Applications started, you know, referring to the ProPublica stuff. So, like, you know, it was, you know, it went through the cycle for Guardian, CNN, whatever. So with matching evidence, the FBI started to pay attention on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018. So this is 416 days after the Unite the right rally. The FBI arrested for Rand members for their role in the violent August rally. So timely, 400 days after unite the rights, FBI arrests 4 people. That's Ben Daley. Angelan cold white and Michael Miselis ProPublica article quoting another Republic article post the attack quote the the four men were charged with having traveled to Charlottesville with the aim of inciting a riot and conspiracy to incite a riot, and prosecutors submitted an array of photographs and videos capturing the men pummeling and choking protesters over the two days. After after a few months, the four men eventually all pleaded guilty, admitting their actions were not in self-defense. And in July 2019, three of the four men who pleaded guilty to federal charges for their role in the violence were sent to prison with terms ranging from 27 months to 37 months. The 4th man, Kyle White, was let off easy for quickly cooperating with authorities and because he, quote, disavowed his hateful ideology. So he he got to avoid federal prison for disavowing his his hateful ideology. Yeah, only serving seven months in like a jail after his arrest, you know, but before the trial. So, yeah, I mean, I would disavow a lot if I could, if I could Get Me Out of federal prison, but whatever. But hey, three out of four Nazis ain't bad. The justice system prevails. Gay? Not actually. Not so fast. In late October 2018, FBI brought charges against four other RAM members, including cofounder Robert Rundo, Tyler Laub, again, the the Xanax, drunken Fight Guy Robert Bowman and Aaron Eason. I don't know to say his name. Who cares? But. The FBI brought charges against these four guys for their involvement in the Mega Rally in Huntington Beach. So this was like, I don't know. 500 almost 600 days after the Huntington Beach rally. Jesus. Great work, FBI. Real timely, but you know the FBI is bringing charges against teenagers with umbrellas in Portland, though at much faster rate. No, they're bringing charges for people, you know, in August they brought charges, you know back in October. So it's like 2 months against that teenager with with an umbrella so. They're really on the on the on, on the on, on the front line there. But it takes 600 days to get the Nazis too bright about their results anyway. Better late than never, yeah. Yeah. So for the people got up, brought charges against them for the for the Huntington Beach stuff as well as the various others you know events around the time Ben daily through the members were arrested in you know so like the the the the the Charlottesville people were arrested in like early October. Around the same time, Robert Randall's House and Huntington Beach got raided by the FBI, deploying flash bangs into his, like, bedroom. Of amazing. But Rhonda wasn't arrested that day. He was there, but they didn't arrest him, so they raided his house. They're like, alright, we didn't find anything. You're free to go. Shortly after this, he attempted to flee to he attempted to flee to Ukraine, where there's like a white nationalist stronghold. But because of travel restrictions put on him by American authorities, he got flagged as a tier one operator of domestic terrorism. And so he was turned back to the US after attempting to transfer flights in London. Weeks later, he made his second attempt to flee. He walked across the border into Mexico and made his way to El Salvador to, quote, take a vacation and see. The beaches of late. Late. Later this month, while getting on a flight from El Salvador to Argentina, he was arrested and sent back to the states. So he tried multiple times to flee to other countries. To cause like he he he knew that like people were gonna come to get him eventually. And so he tried to get away and did not do it very successfully. The beaches and yes, to take a vacation. He wasn't he wasn't fleeing. He was taking a vacation. Yeah. That is a good time to take a vacation. Look, that's not bad at at timing things, necessarily so three of the Members got arrested as well. This new group of arrests follows similar charges as the previous set of RAM arrests, citing felony rioting violations. This time, only one of the Members pleaded guilty. This was a Tyler lobby. The other three did not plead guilty to the charges. And in June of 2019, United States United States District Court Judge Cormac J Carney. Since it's funny name dropped all of the federal rioting charges. Were all of the band members in this in this latest bout of arrests on the grounds that the statute used to prosecute the men infringed upon their First Amendment rights to free speech? So. The idea that you can't insult people and then brag about it, I guess, was a violation of First Amendment. Judge, Judge Carney, a conservative Republican appointed by George W Bush, wrote the charges were unconstitutionally overbroad, in violation of the 1st amendment. Care what idiots antifa are. You're both young men. You don't want to be in custody for years. So that's just speaking to Rundo and a few other people being like, I don't care if you want to be antifa, you're both young men. You should not be in prison for a long time. So that's great that they were let off the hook from that. Poor per per courthouse news lawyers courthouse is like a law website. I guess I don't know. Lawyers for ram members stated the charges. The men faced conspiracy to commit writing and travel or use of the Interstate commerce to with intent to write do not pertain to the actual physical physical violence that took place, the law can't go and suppress everyone's First Amendment rights. Adding quote people who commit crimes will continue to be punished, which makes no sense because. These people committed crimes and absolutely got punished. In no way got let off. So in total, I guess four members of RAM got arrested by the FBI, actually got charged and the other four did not so. Yeah, I I don't I don't know. So it's very stupid because these guys got arrested by the FBI and then a federal judge dropped the charges for half of them citing First Amendment violations, I guess. But this was about felony for writing and beating people up. So it's a weird and it's it's very common for if you know how the FBI works, they don't generally charge people unless they are very confident. It's like weird for them. It's pointed the reasons why federal charges. Very rarely don't get convicted right. Like it's they generally put stuff out when they're fairly confident. So it's weird that they drop somebody charges against these guys and it kind of suggests maybe, I don't know, maybe there was. Push back behind the scenes to some security right wing vigilantes? Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Not not great. So four got arrested and sent to prison for at least a little bit of time, and the other four did not. But the story of RAM is not over yet. While what? While one of their leaders, Ben Daley, is still in federal prison, the other, Robert Rundo, is out frolicking around Europe trying to establish a new brand, which we will have the not pleasure of hearing about in Part 2. So. Yay. Yeah. More more fake brands of clothing coming up soon. Stay. Stay tuned. Great. Stay tuned. Awesome. Well, I feel great. So good. Wanna go to the beach? I would love to go to the beach again sometime and not do a book burning, which seems like a waste of time at the beach. Go to the beach, Mason people. You know, felony use of pepper spray. Yeah, well, I only like to use it legally, which is why I put on a swastika before I pepper spray people. There you go. Great. Yeah. Well, that's that's the episode I I don't know what else to say here. Not to you suck, Garrison. Where can people follow you? Yeah, yeah, I guess it's the end of a podcast. Yeah. So I have a Twitter account that I occasionally post videos on from protests, I guess. Called at Hungry bow tie. I I guess have a YouTube page where I post some of the same videos but edited together with funny Music now which I'm doing more of. It's more fun and less depressing. Yeah. And I guess I also have a have a I work on a podcast called Uprising, a Guy from Portland. If you've heard of that, it's about the Portland BLM uprising in 2020. That sounds fascinating. Ohh you. You will love it, Robert. It's great. You got a whole bunch of stuff about protests and big Feds. Yeah. Oh, good. Great. Fans of the show wonder you listen, Sophie. That's good. Yeah. Yeah, but those those are those are the main things. That's so cool. Absolutely. But glad to know about all that. Robert. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I I think this is where we bid everybody goodbye. Yeah. You know, I would like you all to just kind of, you know, think, think a lot about where this nation is heading, about kind of what we've seen since 2017 with groups like RAM and then pick up a gun, go to your nearby nearest hospital. 202021 called. I think at the end of the episode, yes, yeah. Hello, I'm Erica Kelly from the podcast Southern Fried True crime, and if you want to go from podcast fan to podcast host, do what I did and check out spreaker from iheart. I was working in accounting and hating it. Then after just 18 months of podcasting with Spreaker, I was able to quit my day job. Follow your podcasting dreams, let's break or handle the hosting, creation, distribution, and monetization. Of your podcast, go to spreaker.com. That's spreaker.com. Hey there, it's Ebony Monet, your co-host for the San Diego Zoo's Amazing Wildlife podcast. In this special episode, we're speaking with Doctor Jane Goodall about the fascinating journey that led to her social discoveries on chimpanzees. The four whole months the chimps ran away from me. I mean, they take one look at this peculiar white ape and disappear into the vegetation. Being wildlife on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. In the 1980s and 90s, a psychopath terrorized the country of Belgium. A serial killer and kidnapper was abducting children in the bright light of day. From Tenderfoot TV and iHeartRadio, this is La Monstra, a story of abomination and conspiracy. The story about the man who simply become known as. La monster. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.