Incoming Feed Items

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics | The Roundtable Ep. 284

The editors open with an analysis of the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a repeat violent offender, and discuss what it reveals about crime, media spin, and a legacy media more fixated on “Republicans pouncing” than the literally pouncing criminal himself. Follow-up discussion ranges from Europe’s disappearing crime stats to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s downward revision of nearly a million jobs during the Biden presidency, probing whether institutions still merit public trust and what a reality-based politics on immigration, safety, and the economy might look like. The editors also touch on an immigration sweep at a Georgia battery plant and the gap between GDP and lived experience before closing with fresh culture picks.

Introduction: Passive Revolution in 2025

In the spring of 2025, when Canada narrowly avoided being swept up in a global wave of electoral successes for the (far) right, it was a puzzling moment. After years in which it appeared to be all but inevitable that Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservative Party of Canada would form the first government of the post-Justin Trudeau era, the election of another minority Liberal Party government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, could seem an occasion for relief. An apparently ascendant right-wing in Canada was not so ascendant after all. However, notwithstanding the contingency of the minority Parliament and the initiation of US trade war upon the inauguration of the second Trump administration, it may be wrong to think that Canada has rejected or been spared the rise of the right. For the time being, at least, Canada’s Liberals have succeeded in a classic passive-revolutionary exercise: metabolizing and re-presenting elements of a threatening movement to ensure political survival and, as much as possible, re-establish electoral and policy dominance. 

Woodside Energy is apparently baulking at strict new limits on nitrous oxide emissions the Albanese government wants to impose on its massive gas project to protect the ancient Indigenous rock art at Murujuga in WA.

The emissions limits are the “major sticking point” in the way of final approval for Woodside’s North West Shelf gas development, according to the AFR Rock art protections behind Woodside North West Shelf gas project delay.

Which begs the question: why is this a negotiation?

It tells you a lot about who wields power in Australia that Woodside is being allowed to haggle in secret over the conditions.

In May, Environment Minister Murray Watt gave provisional approval to a 45-year extension of the oil and gas giant’s liquid natural gas export hub on the Burrup, and an associated gas power plant.

This was subject to “strict conditions” – but they were never made public.

Supposedly, the secrecy was imposed to provide “procedural fairness” to Woodside. The gas giant was given 10 days to respond. It missed the deadline.

Four months later, the conditions are still cloaked in secrecy – and Woodside is still chipping away at them behind closed doors. So much for transparency.

Woodside’s gas facilities are adjacent to what many experts consider the most significant Indigenous rock art site in the world: The Murujuga Cultural Landscape.

It describes changes in other jurisdictions as “rushed, self-interested and poorly justified”.

The Australia Institute submission also warns that rules on early voting, roadside election signage and a 100-metre exclusion zone for handing out how-to-vote cards could undermine election day as a “festival of democracy” in the very heart of the nation’s democracy.

Research shows that a “reimbursement” model for public funding, as recommended by the ACT Electoral Commission, would favour wealthy incumbents at the expense of new entrants.

In 2021, a poll showed that only one-third (36%) of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 were “very” proud to be Americans. Another third stated they were only slightly or not at all proud of their country. Ten years earlier, Pew Research anticipated the trend when it noted that the rate of Millennials who called themselves “very patriotic” fell from 80% in 2003 to 70% in 2011.

Part of a national museum’s job is to prevent that outcome. Preserving the historical truth is a high purpose, but so is instilling the sentiment of gratitude. America’s museums can and should do both.

Instead, as of this writing, if you visit the home page of the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the very first exhibit you see is the Greensboro lunch counter from the famous sit-in of 65 years ago. The text introducing the exhibit gives visitors to the site the first fact they are to learn about the American past: “Racial segregation was still legal in the United States on February 1, 1960.”

On 6 September 2025 we revealed in The Age that Victorian dentist Ian Lomax is a member of the National Socialist Network.

Lomax previously practiced dentistry in New South Wales. We first saw him training at Elwood with the National Socialist Network in February this year, in footage taken by The Age:

White supremacist bootcamp takes over Elwood beach

Lomax has also featured on a National Socialist Network Telegram channel, in a training photograph for the Victorian Rural West chapter, alongside Hamish Cameron and Gus Hartigan:

Lomax attended the March for Australia rally in Melbourne on 31 August. Blair Cottrell badly blurred him in a video he published, attempting, “This man is a dentist so we can't show you his face on video. Morning Ian.”

We, as Nathan Bull’s family, are utterly devastated and remain in disbelief at his decision to join this group. From the very beginning, we made it clear that if he chose this path, we could no longer be an active part of his life. Sadly, that is the decision he made.

We are deeply concerned about the continued spread of misinformation and incorrect assumptions about our family. For clarity:

Nathan’s father has not been a member of Victoria Police for more than three years.

He is not “Luke Bull,” the officer charged and found guilty in relation to a separate matter last year.

He is in no way racist, nor did he have a negative influence on Nathan growing up.

We would also like to address a photo of Nathan shared publicly from his 21st birthday, where his father expressed pride in him. At that time, we had no knowledge of any association Nathan may have had with this group, nor any understanding of the meaning behind the T-shirt he wore. At that point, Nathan was working, engaged with his family, and we believed he was becoming a fine young man. Not long after, our trust in that belief was sadly shattered.

We respectfully ask the community and media to stop contacting us. I personally have received abusive phone calls today, including many from private numbers that I have not answered. This is deeply distressing.

We are embarrassed to see Nathan continually featured in the media and saddened by the possibility that he may never leave this group. His choices are his alone.

You may have landed here because you want to talk about neo-Nazis without helping them. Excellent.

You have an important role in combatting the rise of these groups. You must remember at all times – however they present themselves – the underlying ideology of all neo-Nazis is murderous.

Remember: They are a cult that want journalists to help launder their image and legitimise their movement and beliefs.

Above all – don't be fooled

Neo-Nazis look “normal”. They have families, friends, work colleagues. They shop at the same places you do. They go to the gym. They go to university. They work on building sites and in offices. They have respectable careers. This isn't “Romper Stomper” – most do not have shaved heads, swastika tattoos and broken teeth.

Don't be fooled.

Remember: All neo-Nazis share the same murderous beliefs. They want an extremely conservative white-only Australia. Anyone else “must go,” a euphemism that oscillates between deportation and mass murder. Never lose sight of that.

1. Do not assist their media strategy.

Neo-Nazis have a simple strategy when it comes to media:

If they can't get an opportunity to appear in the media, they create one.

On the 26th of January 2025, 17 people were arrested in Adelaide over a public stunt organised by members of the National Socialist Network (NSN).

We've provided a list of the 16 adult arrestees as an open call-out for any further detail you might be able to provide:

• Do you know one of them through work?
• The local shops?
• Are they mates with your mates?
• Did you go to school together?
• Anything else of interest no matter how big or small.

Help us by sharing any verifiable information by securely dropping us a line at thewhiterosesociety@protonmail.com. You'll remain anonymous.

The information we're providing here is not exhaustive and is only given as an identification aid. We've omitted some information we already possess, but don't let that deter you from sending us a tip. Suburbs listed below are retrieved from either court or police reports, and may not exactly reflect the person's home suburb.

tl;dr: Racist bigot who pals around with neo-Nazis is a well-connected Victorian Liberal Party member who stood for local council elections as an independent.

Ex Victorian Liberal Party parliamentarian Moira Deeming has told the court over the past few weeks that she has no association with the far-Right whatsoever – we're not quite sure that's true. Join us as we pull the thread on one Deeming ally with dubious connections.

Excerpt from our submission to the Senate inquiry Right wing extremist movements in Australia.

On July 24, 2024, at the Senate Committee investigating right wing extremist movements in Australia, practitioners from the Counter Extremism Project presented an embarrassingly incorrect account of the state of the Australian extreme right landscape, particularly concerning Active Clubs.

This highlights a key problem with the Countering Violent Extremism industrial complex—individuals who have spent the past twenty years focusing on the Islamophobic war on terror often lack substantial knowledge about the extreme right. Despite this, they are positioned as experts while chasing grant money into the right-wing space.

On September 15, 2023, neo-Nazis from National Socialist Network, armed with knives, attempted to attack an anti-fascist gig in Thornbury at Café Gummo. The gig was a fundraiser for us and the Black Peoples Union.

If you recognise any of these cowards e-mail us thewhiterosesociety@protonmail.com. Please share this image in your networks and on your social media in case anyone recognises them. We have numbered the faces of those we do not yet know the names of.

If you would like to amplify our X post/tweet of these faces you can repost it at this link.

Video of National Socialist Network running like rats:

A group of neo nazis has squared off with anti-fascists, in a terrifying brawl that took over Thornbury's main street. @ajhegarty9 #9News pic.twitter.com/B4OmCJmI9f

My motion at council tonight to reaffirm our commitment to the LGBTIQA+ community after rainbow storytime events were cancelled due to threats from the far right, has passed!

Red text are the small changes made by request from other councillors. pic.twitter.com/0YHY21bfB4

— Cr Tim Baxter 🏳️‍🌈 (@BaxterTim) June 21, 2023

On 21 June 2023, Councillor Tim Baxter from the City of Port Phillip successfully tabled a motion to reaffirm the council's commitment to the LGBTIQA+ community after rainbow story hour events were cancelled due to threats from the far-right. This has come in the wake of a wave of cancellations from councils and other event organisers this year, particularly related to IDAHOBIT Day and during Pride Month. This motion allows the City of Port Phillip to begin work on how to hold safer events in the future, an urgent issue for many other councils that requires leadership. We are pleased that the City of Port Phillip is showing leadership on this issue and hope it will lead to safer events for the Rainbow Community and families.

Content warning for extreme misogyny, racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia and violence, discussions of neo-Nazi terrorist attacks, and mention (but no description) of rape.

Gabriel Llewellyn Russell Seymour from Thornlands is the leader of the Queensland branch of Australia's largest neo-Nazi network, the National Socialist Network (NSN). Posting simply as ‘Gabe’ in Nazi online chats or as ‘Gabe Smith’ on wider social media, Seymour's identity was unknown until our research was used to profile him in the recent expose by The Age of Australian neo-Nazi leaders:

Seymour’s identity was confirmed by anti-fascist researchers from the White Rose Society using online surveillance. They matched photos he posted of neo-Nazi propaganda at his Queensland home to pictures of a house listed for sale on a real estate website. Public records linked Seymour to this home address.

On December 3rd 2022, the National Socialist Network (NSN)/European Australian Movement (EAM) held a Mixed Martial Arts event at an undisclosed location. In advertising for the event, they said that it would take place in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne.

The Age newspaper today disclosed the location of this event. We provide the following information for the benefit of parents whose children attend this gym.

On December 11, the EAM Telegram channel posted a photo from the event. It depicted 47 people in an industrial gym setting with EAM and swastika flags hanging from the walls. Most of the people in the photo had their faces blurred in addition to wearing face coverings. For some reason, it seemed a few remained unsure about the quality of the NSN's opsec.

The gym in the photograph was very quickly identified by a number of anti-fascist researchers as belonging to Legacy Boxing Gym, and located in Sunshine West.