Neo-Nazi activist behind racist robocalls linked to threats of Idaho newspaper

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Guardian

The far right

Neo-Nazi activist behind racist robocalls linked to threats of Idaho newspaper

Sandpoint Reader is target of new calls describing publisher as 'cancer' that 'needs to be burned out'

Jason Wilson in Portland, Oregon

@jason_a_w
https://twitter.com/jason_a_w

Fri 28 Sep 2018 06.00 EDT

A neo-Nazi activist who sent out hostile and abusive robocalls aimed at top politicians and others has been linked to threats to the publisher of a small local newspaper that first exposed his activities. ... Scott Rhodes, who lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, was first identified by the Sandpoint Reader and linked with a campaign that targeted high-profile political races across the US and even murder victims with racist and antisemitic robocalls.

In recent days threatening robocalls and letters have been sent to the publishers of the Reader, an alternative newspaper, people linked to it and residents in the small rural town. ... The robocall described journalist Ben Olson, the publisher of the Reader, as "a cancer on wholesome north Idaho", adding that "cancer needs to be burned out".

When Rhodes was asked about the call by the Guardian via email, he sent a link to a YouTube video that reproduced the robocall audio, and featured video of a large stack of copies of the Sandpoint Reader being set on fire. ... That video has since been removed by YouTube. The hundreds of newspapers burned in the video represent a significant slice of the Reader's print run, which Olson says is 5,000 a week.
....

The Reader unmasked Rhodes last December, after the neo-Nazi activist left racist propaganda at local high schools. (1) They also revealed that he had carried out similar activities in Alexandria, Virginia. ... Rhodes makes a virulently racist video podcast called The Road to Power. He has been associated with similar robocalls in Idaho and at least five other states.
....

(1) http://sandpointreader.com/person-interest-racist-cd-distribution-shs-also-investigated-virginia-similar-actions/

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/28/idaho-robocalls-sandpoint-reader-neo-nazi

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I'd prefer a local source, but this is the best I've got.

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LaughedAtHat Retweeted:

https://twitter.com/Popehat

New from me: neonazi Scott Rhodes has sent racist and anti Semitic robocalls to six states.

Now he is using them to try to hurt the smalltown Idaho newspaper that first exposed him.

Link to tweet

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Robocalls Target Journalist In North Idaho
http://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/robocalls-target-journalist-north-idaho#stream/0

By ASSOCIATED PRESS & JAMES DAWSON • SEP 24, 2018

The publisher of a northern Idaho weekly newspaper is being attacked in anonymous robocalls, accusing him of imposing a "leftist agenda" on Sandpoint.

The Bonner County Daily Bee reports the publisher of the Sandpoint Reader is the subject of robocalls appearing on answering machines this week. (2)

The robocall claims the alternative weekly has a "leftist agenda" and that Ben Olson is a "cancer on wholesome North Idaho" that must be "burned out."

In a statement, Olson called it an attempt to impugn people who stand up to racism and intolerance. He says it won’t change how the Sandpoint Reader reports the news.

(2) https://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/local_news/20180922/robocall_targets_local_journalist

[jmowreader]

1. North Idaho is no longer "wholesome"

It may have been “wholesome” in the 1970s when I grew up here. The Right started taking over in 1980 when Steve Symms won Frank Church’s Senate seat. Then Mark Fuhrmann moved up here after he got run out of Los Angeles after the OJ Trial. He catalyzed all the Nazis and Klansmen to also move up here, and now decent people won’t set foot inside the state.

When I was on vacation in July I got the chance to talk to a nice lady who’s director of institutional development for a famous university. People back east think Idaho is just this beautiful place where everyone lives in harmony...I explained all the Klansmen and Nazis, the weird tax system we have where you pay property tax and sales tax on food and then you go to the polls every two years and vote in a supplemental school levy to finance basic school operations. She understood why I no longer want to live here.

[rpannier]

3. I went to Washington State University early 80's

There were several neo-Nazi-white supremacist groups there, Coeur d' Alene having a sizeable number. Though on the Washington side of the border there was Spokane and closer to the University Colfax being one of the worst

[jmowreader]

4. We still had the Aryan Nations then

[rpannier]

5. Yep

I remember them

[Initech]

2. Sounds like he'd make a great choice for Trump's running mate in 2020.