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Published 14 May 2020

·  Virus Restrictions Fuel Anti-Government ‘Boogaloo’ Movement

·  EU Official Warns of Extremists Exploiting Virus Outbreak

·  A Civil War Has Erupted in the Anti-Vaxx Movement and It’s Just as Ridiculous as You’d Expect

·  Terror-Charity Lobbyists Are Subsidized by U.S. Taxpayers

·  U.S. Army Uses Anti-Terrorism Technology to Track COVOD-19 Cases

·  The Viral Spread of Anti-Vaccination Sentiment

·  Fear of deportation heightened for immigrant doctors on H-1B visas amid pandemic

·  World Nuclear Arms Spending Hit $73bn Last Year – Half of It by U.S.

Virus Restrictions Fuel Anti-Government ‘Boogaloo’ Movement (AP / VOA)
The coronavirus pandemic has become a catalyst for the “boogaloo” movement because the stay-at-home orders have “put a stressor on a lot of very unhappy people,” said J.J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. MacNab said their rhetoric goes beyond discussions about fighting virus restrictions — which many protesters brand as “tyranny” — to talking about killing FBI agents or police officers “to get the war going.”
“They are far more graphic and far more specific in their threats than I’ve seen in a long time,” she said.
The violent rhetoric is dramatic escalation for a online phenomenon with its roots in meme culture and steeped in dark humor. Its name comes from the panned 1984 movie “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” which has become slang for any bad sequel. Another derivation of “boogaloo” is “big luau” — hence the Hawaiian garb.
Far-right gun activists and militia groups first embraced the term before white supremacist groups adopted it last year. And while some “boogaloo” followers maintain they aren’t genuinely advocating for violence, law-enforcement officials say they have foiled bombing and shooting plots by people who have connections to the movement or at least used its terminology.

EU Official Warns of Extremists Exploiting Virus Outbreak (David Rising, AP / ABC News)
The European Union’s counterterrorism official is warning that the coronavirus pandemic is being used by extremists as an opportunity to spread their message and could be exploited to carry out attacks

A Civil War Has Erupted in the Anti-Vaxx Movement and It’s Just as Ridiculous as You’d Expect (Will Sommer, Daily Beast)
One would think that a global pandemic resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of  Americans would present a fair number of challenges for anti-vaccine activists. But in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus, the community is—to borrow an overused phrase—having a moment.
They’re pushing their dangerous views at anti-lockdown protests across the country, raising fears about the risks of any future COVID-19 vaccine. Plandemic, the coronavirus conspiracy theory video starring a discredited doctor allied with anti-vaccine activists, racked up millions of views on social media before it was banned from YouTube and Facebook. In Australia, a crowd called for billionaire Bill Gates to be arrested—all for the “crime” of funding vaccine research.
And yet, with increased visibility comes heightened pressure. And as the anti-vaccine movement tries to take advantage of the pandemic, it’s been torn in half by a new feud and multiple lawsuits over the most damaging claim someone can make about an anti-vaccine activist: that they secretly support vaccines.

The Viral Spread of Anti-Vaccination Sentiment (Bryan Wals, Axios)
Anti-vaccination movements could grow large enough to disrupt efforts to create public immunity when a vaccine is developed, according to new research.

Terror-Charity Lobbyists Are Subsidized by U.S. Taxpayers (Sam Westrop, National Review)
The use of charity to advance radical ideologies is hardly a novel idea. European fascist movements built a base of support through charitable programs and promises of social welfare. The Ku Klux Klan delivered food and medicine to poor white communities. Hamas, the Muslim BrotherhoodKhomeinistsWahhabisISIS, and al-Qaeda have all made use of charities and welfare programs to propagate and consolidate their control over Muslim communities. Radical ideological movements do not only establish their own charitable groups; they also hijack the altruism and naïveté of others.

U.S. Army Uses Anti-Terrorism Technology to Track COVOD-19 Cases (Army-Technology)
The US Army has stated that it is using its anti-terrorism threat detection technology to track the spread of Covid-19. The technology is helping army leaders make real-time, force-protection decisions. Called the Joint Analytic Real-Time Virtual Information Sharing System (JARVISS), the software targets criminal activity. It also offers natural disaster information inside and around army installations and stand-alone facilities.

Fear of deportation heightened for immigrant doctors on H-1B visas amid pandemic (Agnes Constante, NBC News)
Immigrant physicians account for nearly a quarter of all licensed physicians in the U.S. Their disabilities or deaths would make any dependent family members subject to removal.

World Nuclear Arms Spending Hit $73bn Last Year – Half of It by U.S. (Julian Borger, Guardian)
The world’s nuclear-armed nations spent a record $73bn on their weapons last year, with the U.S. spending almost as much as the eight other states combined, according to a new report.