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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

Story from City and State, NY [cityandstateny.com]:

When a group [facebook.com] of self-described patriots known as “Three Percenters” flashed a hand gesture popular with white supremacists outside the state Capitol in January last year, there were few people around to notice. But one year later, their cause has joined the cacophony of voices opposing newly enacted criminal justice reforms from within a Facebook group called Repeal Bail Reform that is moderated by high-ranking New York Republican operatives, where a link to the photo has appeared more than two dozen times in recent weeks among the comments on various posts.

The group’s moderators include state Republican Party Political Director James Thompson, Erie County GOP Chair Jesse Prieto and Assembly Minority Director of Conference Press Operations Nick Wilock – none of whom answered questions sent to them by City & State. The Facebook group [facebook.com] has rapidly grown to more than 160,000 members since Sheriff Jeff Murphy of Washington County, which borders Lake George and Massachusetts, created it in early January. Many of the posts concern news stories about the purported excesses of bail reform, the laws that passed last session to reduce the use of bail in minor offenses, but these in turn have led to more inflammatory commentary that targets Democrats, immigrants, Muslims and others in the comments sections.

Bail Reform? Dog the Bounty Hunter?

“It exposes the what has been the undercurrent for us of the bail rollback movement,” Jessica Wisneski, a co-director of Citizens Action of New York, said of the Facebook group. “It's this undercurrent of racism and it's an undercurrent that is perpetuating this kind of Trumpian fear-mongering, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-woman rhetoric that is all over – right wing national politics showing up right here in New York.”

The Repeal Bail Reform page is hardly the only online forum filled with incivility, but it is one used by GOP lawmakers and political operators to promote their views on the politically charged bail issue. Their success in reaching a wide audience in turn has catalyzed a response from group members that includes inflammatory comments that violate the group’s stated code of conduct in a variety of ways, whether it is profane, racist, or violent language. One user said Gov. Andrew Cuomo “needs to have some low life he released curb stomp him.” Another post tied bail reform to an international conspiracy against western civilization: “This is exactly what happened in Germany Sweden etc only they used Muslims Our legislators are using the indigenous lowlife population and crying racism Who is to say that these people haven’t been paid by the likes of Soros etc al?”

Settles it for me. No Bail Reform, especially no bail for violent racist alt-right/light/white terrorists.

Original Submission