A Las Vegas man has been arrested over a white supremacist plot to attack gay bars and synagogues.
Conor Climo, 23, was arrested and arraigned in federal court last week after bomb-making materials were discovered in his home by an FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, Buzzfeed News reports.
Climo reportedly discussed his plans to use either Molotov cocktails or another form of explosives with other white supremacists via encrypted messages. He also told the FBI that he had spent two years considering creating a “sniper platoon” to attack Jewish people.
The investigation found that Climo had repeatedly used “derogatory racial, anti-Semitic and homosexual slurs” and spoke with an FBI informant about identifying “possible targets near Las Vegas, including police leadership, synagogues, an area in downtown Las Vegas with gay bars, and the headquarters for the Anti-Defamation League.”
According to the FBI, Climo said he “harbors biases and hatred toward various racial and religious groups to include African Americans, Jews, and homosexuals.”
An investigation into Climo was opened after the FBI learned he had been communicating with Atomwaffen Division, an extremist white supremacy group.
Climo, who has been arrested on multiple federal charges including possession of an unregistered firearm, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted.
In a statement, US Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich said, “Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this country.”
JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement that HRC was “extremely alarmed to hear that Conor Climo, who was arrested last night in Las Vegas, was allegedly planning to attack a synagogue & LGBTQ bar.”
“While Climo’s actions are concerning, they are not in a vacuum,” she continued. “Dangerous & hateful rhetoric start at the top levels of government and heavily influence the rest of American society. Each and every day, the Trump-Pence administration has sought to dehumanize LGBTQ people, undermine our rights and treat us like second class citizens. The LGBTQ community is under attack, and the Trump-Pence administration is fueling the flames.”
Three years ago, Climo gained notoriety after local media reported that he planned to patrol his Las Vegas neighborhood while carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle and survival knife.
Climo abandoned his plan after neighbors complained, instead saying he would join a neighborhood watch group.
Watch KTNV’s report of that story below:
Despite white supremacists being responsible for all race-based domestic terrorism in 2018, the Trump administration reportedly blocked a report stating as much from reaching Congress.
It has also reduced or eliminated funding and programs designed to combat white supremacists, according to the New Civil Rights Movement.
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to classify specific transgender suspects as "violent extremists," according to journalist Ken Klippenstein. Writing on his Substack, Klippenstein said two national security officials told him that the FBI intends to treat transgender suspects as a subset of the Bureau’s newly created "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" (NVE) category.
The NVE designation was created earlier this year to replace the Biden-era label "Anti-Authority and Anti-Government Violent Extremists" (AGAAVE), which had been used to categorize participants in the January 6 Capitol riot and other right-wing or anti-government groups.
Gay adult film star Justin Heath Smith, better known by his alias Austin Wolf, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
The sentencing follows what prosecutors described as a "pattern of activity involving prohibited sexual conduct" that included seeking out sexual liaisons with minors and exchanging hundreds of child sexual abuse videos.
Wolf was arrested in 2024 on suspicion of using an anonymous Telegram account to exchange hundreds of videos containing child pornography with another individual whose phone was later seized and searched by the FBI.
The owners of Pink Pony, a new gay nightclub in Sydney, have apologized and vowed to change the club's name following backlash from the local LGBTQ community.
Kevin Du-Val and Michael Lewis — the owner and manager of the popular gay club Palms — had planned to open their new multi-level venue on Oxford Street, the main drag in Darlinghurst known for its vibrant LGBTQ nightlife, in early December.
But the club's name — which the owners said in a since-deleted social media post was "unashamedly inspired by its namesake song that resonates so profoundly within our community," referring to lesbian singer Chappell Roan's hit "Pink Pony Club" — sparked controversy after they described the type of patrons they hoped to attract, seemingly at the expense of others, according to 9News.
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