Pentagon extremism examine on armed forces used previous, flawed information

A Pentagon-funded examine relied on previous information to conclude extremism isn’t a serious drawback within the U.S. army, according to a new analysis. In the meantime, incoming President Trump reportedly plans to signal an government order eradicating 1000’s of trans service members from the army. And physique digital camera footage reveals locals in Columbus, OH, fought again when neo-Nazis got here to city.

It’s the week in extremism, from USA TODAY.

Pentagon report on army extremism relied on previous information

Over the previous couple of years, USA TODAY has intently adopted the Pentagon’s strategy to tackling extremism within the armed forces. In 2021, weeks after the Jan. 6 rebel, Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin introduced a giant push to weed extremists out of the army, however as USA TODAY reported, that push largely fell aside within the years that adopted.

An enormous a part of the anti-extremism effort was the discharge of a report commissioned by Austin searching for to point out how dangerous the army’s extremism drawback actually is. That report, which was lastly launched just below a 12 months in the past, supplied scant new information on the issue and concluded extremism was vanishingly uncommon within the armed forces.

However a new analysis this week from the Related Press concludes the report was based mostly on previous information that underplayed the extent of the army’s extremism drawback.

• Whereas the concentrate on extremism was decried as a “witch hunt” and a “false narrative” by Congressional Republicans and conservative commentators, the AP discovered “that the study, “Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense” conducted by the Institute for Defense Analyses, relied on previous information, deceptive analyses and ignored proof that pointed to the alternative conclusion.”   
• In line with the AP: “the IDA report’s authors didn’t use newer information that was supplied to it, and as a substitute based mostly one among its foundational conclusions on Jan. 6 arrest figures that have been greater than two years old-fashioned by the point of the report’s public launch.”
• When the Pentagon report was launched final 12 months, USA TODAY sought interviews with the Institute for Protection Evaluation quite a few occasions. The company declined all requests. Neither the institute, nor the Pentagon, has responded to requests made beneath the Freedom of Info Act nearly a 12 months in the past.  
• Th AP evaluation discovered “the report grossly undercounted the variety of army and veterans arrested for the Jan. 6 assault and supplied a deceptive image of the severity of the rising drawback”
• Pete Hegseth, who Trump has nominated as protection secretary, was faraway from a Nationwide Guard project to President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration due to issues about doable extremist ties. 

Trump plans to take away trans individuals from the army (once more)

Incoming president Trump reportedly plans to signal an government order in his first days in workplace that might take away trans individuals from serving within the US army, in line with a story from Britain’s The Times newspaper this week.

• The manager order would reportedly successfully ban trans individuals serving within the army and would additionally medically discharge 1000’s of serving trans individuals within the armed forces.
•  “It will additionally result in a ban on trans individuals becoming a member of the army and would come at a time when nearly all branches of the American armed forces are failing to satisfy recruitment targets.,“ The Occasions reviews.
• The Trump marketing campaign pushed again on The Occasions’ reporting, which cites unidentified sources. “These unnamed sources are speculating and don’t know what they’re really speaking about,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, informed The Occasions. “No selections on this problem have been made. No coverage ought to ever be deemed official except it comes straight from President Trump or his authorised spokespeople.”
• Trump beforehand barred transgender service members in 2019, a coverage that was shortly reversed by Biden and was topic to quite a few lawsuits. 

Neo-Nazis in Ohio have been ‘lined in’ pepper spray

A report this week from USA TODAY Community’s The Columbus Dispatch reveals new particulars a couple of quick march by a small group of neo-Nazis in Columbus two weeks in the past. Police physique cam video reveals the neo-Nazis, who carried swastika flags and shouted racist slogans, have been confronted by native individuals who demanded they take away their masks.

• One of many officers famous the boys have been “lined in” pepper spray, the Dispatch reviews.
• The neo-Nazis, carrying black and crimson clothes and carrying black flags with crimson swastikas, informed police they have been giving up their show as a result of they have been beneath assault. Later, behind a rented U-Haul, the boys complained of being persecuted due to their beliefs and requested officers to allow them to put their arms down as a result of they have been shedding circulation.
• The boys have been in the end not charged, regardless of one carrying a knife and one other a sidearm, as a result of they weren’t the aggressors in a battle that broke out, the Dispatch reviews.

Statistic of the week: 12,711

That’s how many individuals reside in Jackson County, Tennessee, northeast of Nashville, which is the place a Christian Nationalist group plans to construct a group based mostly on their extremist beliefs. That’s in line with a new investigation by NewsChannel Five in Nashville. 

In line with the report: “NewsChannel 5’s three-month investigation — reviewing hours of podcasts and poring over a whole lot of social media posts — discovered that their views will not be so totally different from the concepts espoused by the neo-Nazis and different white supremacists seen marching down Nashville streets up to now 12 months, though they gown up their controversial notions with mental buzz phrases and name it Christian.”