On the 15th of December, a substantial number of members of Central Florida’s LGBTQ community showed up in Lakeland to defend a drag bingo event from an expected attack by fascists. They were reinforced by an antifa contingent as well.After a string of ugly and often armed attacks on drag events and standoffs at defended drag events all over the US, the Nazis didn’t show up. The LGBTQ community wins this match hands down by a forfeit!

Less than two weeks earlier, “Natsoc Florida” overt Nazis had descended on an earlier drag event in Lakeland after being blocked by a faction fight from joining the Proud Boys and treasonous “Gays against Groomers” at an anti-transgender rally on the beach in Ft Lauderdale.

Update Dec 15: Bond DENIED to the five arrestees but treesits still holding out! Raids are another failure.

On the 13 and 14th of December, cops staged a major raid on the Atlanta Forest Defense/Stop Cop City treesits. Under a blizzard of pepperballs they only managed to arrest five people according to reports in the corporate press. They charged all five with bullshit, state-level “domestic terrorism” charges. In response the fight was carried to the Dekalb County Jail, where in response to a solidarity noise protest detainees smashed windows and lit signal fires outside the smashed windows. Fireworks, smoke flares, and lasers were deployed by protesters at the jail. There is NO place this fight cannot reach.

After the raids ended, many treesits were still holding out, with the cops having again abandoned the forest as they do after every raid regardless of the results

(from https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2022/12/15/windows-smashed-at-a-noise-demo-outside-of-dekalb-county-jail/ )

Windows Smashed at a Noise Demo Outside of DeKalb County Jail

Posted on December 15, 2022

On Tuesday December 13th there was a raid in the forest where five were arrested after police brutalized them with tear gas and pepper balls.

Forest defenders swiftly called for a noise demonstration at the DeKalb County Jail in solidarity with the five people arrested during the raid. By 8pm protesters began to amass near the facility.

Sheriffs on foot lined the perimeter of the jail as a choir of twenty five voices, a dozen drums, 2 guitars, a cello, and various handheld noisemakers approached. Jail administrators peered down from office windows as protesters tossed smoked bombs in the road and chanted “1312, we are all here for you!” and “no forest, no peace”.

With our flashing lights, lasers, and binoculars we gazed up, scouring the prison walls for evidence of folks inside hearing our call. We were quickly greeted by prisoners waving, frantically scrubbing the dust from their windows, and straining to peer down at the raucous below. We saw a few dozen of them throughout the demonstration.

We heard sounds of the prisoners banging back to us from inside their cells. Fifteen minutes in, one rowdy prisoner was spotted lighting a fire outside their cell window, which appeared to have been smashed out for the occasion.

Peering through binoculars, one noise-maker noticed an arm waving a sheet out of a third story window that also was smashed. After quieting the band, protestors and the two unknown prisoners shouted back and forth. “I love y’all” yelled the prisoners, “We love you too”! And all in agreement, “fuck the police!” “1,2,3,” the prisoner led the forest defenders in a chant — “fuck! the police!”

“There’s nothing that evokes such a feeling of solidarity— all the people at the windows —even though we are strangers to one another, we felt united in our determination against crude imbalance of power and systematic injustice” – a forest defender

This is not the first time a noise demonstration at DeKalb County Jail got rowdy. We and those locked inside who smashed their windows are part of a multiyear tradition at DeKalb County Jail. In 2019 at one noise demo protesters went inside the jail, fought the police and at another soon after prisoners smashed over a dozen windows throwing down mold to the protesters revealing the horrific conditions they are trapped in.

The fight to Stop Cop City is a struggle not just for a world without a police training facility in the Weelaunee Forest but also for a world without prisons.

Submitted anonymously over email

On the 14th of December, protesters organized by TakeemdownJAX showed up in front of Jacksonville, FL City Hall. They were there to demand removal of all remaining Confederate monuments controlled by the city, including the tall pillar in front of City Hall that formerly held a statue of a Confederate solider. A smattering of Fascists showed up across the street, only one attempted to challenge the rally. With an antifa camera locked onto him, he soon threw in the towel and left without causing any trouble.

After the rally, many participants went inside to speak on the Confederate monument removal issue at a hearing in City Hall. One speaker at the rally reminded everyone that Jacksonville’s City Hall could order them removed that very night.

The campaign of residential protests against fascist and Christian nationalist Supreme Court judges is still going on. On Sunday, Dec 11, “Justice” Samuel Alito got another visit to his block. He is known as “the witchburner” for citing 17th century judge Matthew Hale in his Dobbs ruling. Matthew Hale had two women executed for witchcraft

This all-black varient of the US flag has been popping up since the start of the pandemic and was seen at J6 among other places. It can be seen flying from the porches of some of the worst Trump and DeSantis supporters. It has been especially popular in Florida for some reason

It stands for “no quarter” and specifically for “no quarter given” meaning an intention to slaughter all defeated combatants in the second US civil war they expect. This is distinct from “no quarter asked” in which case an intent to refuse to surrender and fight to the death is stated without changing the status of enemies captured if those making this statement are victorious. The combination of the two is “no quarter asked or given” no surrender and no prisoners taken.

It is generally considered a war crime to refuse to accept the surrender of defeated enemy troops (as the all black US flag threatens) while it is perfectly legal in war for combatants to refuse to surrender themselves. Of course, once either side gains a reputation for either executing or torturing captured enemies, the whole conflict can quickly escalate to no quarter asked or given on either side, as happened between US and Japanese troops during WWII’s “Island-hopping” hell.

During the (1st) Civil War the Confederates sometimes used a no-quarter black flag, and it was after the civil war that US statues concerning conduct of the US military outlawed declaration that no quarter would be given. Troops are still permitted to refuse to surrender, they just must accept the surrender of defeated enemies and not kill them.

https://www.miamitimesonline.com/opinion/the-no-quarter-flag-and-its-threat-to-america/article_0e7221c0-46eb-11ec-8195-e7b68bed1e86.html

On the 10th of December, protesters deployed in the streets of many US cities supporting revolution in Iran-and warning the regime in Iran NOT to continue executing protesters. A major protest took place in DC near the Washington Monument, and others took place almost simultaniously all over the US from coast to coast.

Just days before these protests-and as protests in Iran continue to escalate, the regime executed Mohsen Shekari for a street blockade and allegedly defending himself from a “security guard.” Onlookers at the otherwise-common public hanging in Iran were reportedly shocked to see a protester executed in front of their faces. Hundreds have died in street battles against armed police and security forces of the regime, but this is the first known execution. Several more are threatened but as this was written were supposed to already have been carried out. The first execution caused protests to escalate not stand down, the regime may be waiting to see how both the Iranian street and the rest of the world respond before tying any more nooses. By the time this is over, it may be Khamani’s neck in a noose, the whole regime probably knows they will hang with him, so they are “hanging with him” now, going all-out in a futile attempt to kill off their opposition with police violence and executions. It doesn’t seem to be working as the protests just keep escalating.

On the 5th of December, Christian fundamentalists again faced off with women’s rights and LGBTQ activists in front of the Supreme Court. This time the case in question is a lawsuit brought challenging antidiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ folks and by extension people of color and almost any other disfavored group. Fundamentalist Christian bakers and artists rallied outside while progressives counterprotested them.

Abortion rights activists, LGBTQ activists, and several Satanic Temple folks showed up for the counterprotest. The Satanic Temple, rather than being literal devil worshippers is a nontheistic group using Satanic imagery (as was done by many musicians in the 1980’s) to promote religious freedom and beat back religious fundamentalist oppression. With Christian Nationalists growing in strength, a supporter of witch-burning on the Supreme Court, and outright genocide against trans folks being openly promoted, the use of such imagery is no surprise. This will likely grow if the fight between Christian nationalists and LGBTQ people escalates into open warfare.

The woman filing the original lawsuit does not even really have standing. She has never been sued under any state’s antidiscrimination laws, and has not even started her proposed web design firm yet. Instead, she has brought a pre-emptive lawsuit seeking the “right” to refuse to produce any content for same-sex couples getting married.

The 3ed of December is a day that shall live in infamy. On that day, neo-Nazis, Christian Nationalist, and other Fascists assaulted drag events in multiple cities almost simultaniously and held at least one standalone hate protest as well.The most extreme incident is the attack on electrical power substations in Moore County, North Carolina. Over 40,000 people lost electrical power, a curfew was imposed, and thousands jammed roads fleeing the county. Schools may be closed until Tuesday or later. Both power line insulators and the sheet metal casings of power transformers are known to be vlunerable to rifle fire. Credit has been all but claimed on Twitter for shooting out the power substations. If this claim is accurate, all of this was for a failed attempt to shut down a drag show, which was successfully held under illumination from flashlights.

Possibly an even bigger deal save that it failed was an attempted bombing of a doctor’s office in Boston, MA. The failed bombing attempt was reported by Miami Antifa News https://kolektiva.social/@miaantifanews/109459138680541359

The next more serious incident was the invasion of a residential neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio by both Proud Boys and Patriot Front. Some of them were seen carrying firearms. An all-ages drag show scheduled to take place in that neighborhood had to be cancelled due to the armed menace represented by these terrorists.In Lakeland, Florida another drag show was successfully held despite threats and a march by hard core neo-Nazis with a “black sun” and WWII German Naval flag showing a swastika.

A planned disruption or attack on a drag queen story hour in New York City failed, https://kolektiva.social/@nycantifa reports that anti-Fascist activists successfully intercepted Jovi Val and his Fascist buddies before they could get within range. By itself this is a “normal” incident at this time, but it did occur on the same day as all the others.

Lastly there was the hate rally held on a beach in Ft Lauderdale, FL by Proud Boys, so-called “Gays against Groomers” and several other Fascist and Christian extremist groups, and who knows how many more hate rallies and assaults on drag shows. The message sent by attacking a whole county with no regard for collateral damage is particularily disturbing. The inclusion of both firearms and explosives in the attack template is even worse.

These events (two of them involving firearms) put together suggest a coordinated offensive by far-right terrorists against the LGBTQ community with Dec 3 as either the date of the entire offensive or the start date of something bigger yet. The fash got mixed results this time around, but nobody can let their guard down. What the fascists are clearly angling for is a modern version of Nazi Germany’s 1937 Krystalnacht.

On the 3ed of December, the Proud Boys, so-called “Gays against Groomers” “Moms4Liberty,” and other far rights extremists rallied on the beach in Ft Lauderdale, FL to support DeSantis’s attacks on transgender folks. Counterprotesters matched their turnout, and repeatedly drove Proud Boys out of the counterprotest site. Soon,the fascists tired and left, leaving the pro-LGBTQ contingent in posession of the field.

The fascist rally included Chris Nelson’s attempts to disrupt the counterprotest, Proud Boys trying to walk through the counterprotest only to be immediatly engaged and driven out, a Pepe the Frog flag, and fundamentalist Christian music and slogans near the beginning. As always, it was clear their message is about hate and religious bigotry. The LGBTQ community turned out to oppose them.Both liberals and hardcore anti-Fascist activists turned out. As confrontations flared, anti-Fascist camerapeople took zoom closeup photos of any many Proud Boys and other prominant extremists as possible. These will be of use later.

Broward County School Board member Brenda Fam spoke at this so-called “Protect the Children” rally, standing with all manner of fascists, neo-Nazis, and Christian nationalists, Proud Boys included. This may make her re-election campaign more difficult.

On the liberal side, even a Florida state Senator and the Mayor of Ft Lauderdale spoke. While one of the Mayor’s staffers whined to cops about the presence of anarchists and anti-fascists, the presence of the Mayor and his speaking at the counterprotest limited the cops. The Ft Lauderdale Police in blue were unable to openly side with the Proud Boys in black and gold after the Mayor spoke for their opponents. As a result, the cops were mostly hands-off and a joint police-Proud Boys attack on the counterprotest was averted.

In Ft Lauderdale, the Proud Boys were the smallest force, backing up a fascist political rally and with plenty of lead time for the community to respond and fight back. Several other cities were not so lucky.

Ugly things happened elsewhere this same day, some reaching the level of hard core terrorism. First and foremost, far right extremists shot up several electrical power substations in North Carolina, shutting off power to about 40,000 people. This was for nothing more than a FAILED attempt to forcibly shut a drag show! The Three Percenters and Oath Keepers were not known to be active in attacking drag shows prior to Dec 3, so that makes Proud Boys the most likely suspects. Another incident also involving firearms took place in Columbus, Ohio, where far right extremists, some carrying guns, descended on the site of a drag show, again with the objective of forcibly shutting it down. Still another drag show in Lakeland, Florida was harassed by Nazis but contrary to earlier reports was able to continue. Hard Nazis with a swastika flag and a black sun flag screamed slurs outside.

In less than two weeks, the LGBTQ community has been targettted with one mass shooting (Club Q in Colorado Springs, five dead), one shooting attack on electrical power used by the general public, one drag show shut down by armed force, and probably many others harassed.

(Video by John Zangas is of the protest outside

On Dec 1, a banquet for the so-called “Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center” was held at a Marriot in Crystal City. Protesters showed up outside chanting and banging drums. In addition, a projector was used to show messages on the side of the building. On top of all else, three protesters got inside and shouted down the proceedings. One person screamed “Jane Says Revenge, motherfuckers! Blood on your hands!

As for the outside protext, drums are probably a hotel manager’s least favorite tactic short of storming the building. This is the same fake clinic Jane’s Revenge punished back in June with paint.