INTEL BRIEF: 'Gypsy Crusader' plea

— HONORING JUNETEENTH… Today, for the first time, the U.S. is recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It commemorates the national end to slavery.

— ‘GYPSY CRUSADER’ READY TO CHANGE PLEA… Paul Miller, a Florida neo-Nazi who calls himself “Gypsy Crusader,” appears ready to plead guilty next week in the federal gun case against him. Miller, 32, was arrested in March on charges of being a felon in possession of a gun after allegedly firing a weapon at a shooting range while applying for a concealed weapons permit. In court records, federal agents said they searched his home and additionally found an unregistered short-barreled rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Miller was allegedly prohibited from owning guns and ammo because of a previous felony drug and assault conviction. He has been sitting in a Broward County, Florida jail ever since his arrest, with a judge noting, among other things, that Miller “has called for the hastening of a race-based civil war and the collapse of society.” He previously pleaded not guilty. A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on Tuesday in Ft. Lauderdale. Miller’s attorney, Michael Cohen, didn’t return a message seeking comment.

— CONGRESSMAN SNUBS COP… In the ongoing fallout from the riot at the U.S. Capitol, Congressman Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, reportedly refused on Wednesday to shake hands with one of the police officers injured in the melee. Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten unconscious in the Jan. 6 riot, talked about his congressional encounter with The Washington Post.

— TAKE TWO… A Massachusetts man was convicted on Tuesday of attempting to firebomb a Jewish nursing home more than a year ago. It was his second trial on the charges. John Rathbun, 37, was found guilty by a federal jury in Springfield, Massachusetts on two felonies in a case in which prosecutors said he placed a five-gallon canister of gasoline near the nursing facility and then tried to set the canister on fire using a Christian religious pamphlet as a wick. Authorities said his DNA was found on the canister and the pamphlet. When Rathbun was charged last year, authorities said there had been chatter on white supremacist forums about the same nursing home. They stopped short, however, of saying Rathbun had engaged in the online conversations. This was the second trial in the man’s case. In the first, in November, he was convicted of lying to the FBI, but the jury had been unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the other two counts.

— EXTREMISM AS A PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM… Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, has a short but important piece at The Atlantic. She argues that the U.S. government should treat extremism the way that Norway, New Zealand, and other countries have following major attacks: as a public health issue.

— FRACTURED BUT NOT FINISHED… “The Rise and Fall of the Proud Boys” (Rolling Stone)

— LOTS OF INCREDIBLE DETAILS… “Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Forceful on Jan. 6, Privately Are in Turmoil” (Wall Street Journal)

— OOPS… “Feds: Capitol riot defendant violated release, rearrested; called probation officer’s mother” (The Daily Gazette)

— ‘WHITE NATIONALIST PREPPERS’… “Leaked Chats Show Ex-Marine Wants to Make Maine Safe Space for Neo-Nazis” (VICE)

— THAT’S A LOT… “4 in 10 Oregonians agree with core white nationalist arguments, survey reveals” (Salem Statesman Journal)

— MAINSTREAMING RACIST IDEAS… “On Fox Nation, Tucker Carlson and Charles Murray discuss race science and speculate a race war is possible” (Media Matters for America)

— THIRSTY FOR VIOLENCE… “Lara Trump Urges Border Residents To ‘Get Guns And Be Ready’ For Migrants” (HuffPost)

— OREGON ATTACK… “Man pleads guilty to hate crime in stabbing of Black man” (Associated Press)

— PURE BRUTALITY… “Ann Arbor man accused of violently assaulting woman for being transgender” (ClickOnDetroit)

— POSSIBLE PROGRESS IN WYOMING… “Legislative committee votes to pursue hate crimes protections in Wyoming” (Casper Star-Tribune)

— HAPPENING IN CANADA… “Concerns grow over rising incidents of anti-Muslim hate as mosque vandalized in Edmonton” (The Globe and Mail)

— HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA… “More right-wing groups could be listed as terrorist organisations” (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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