This summer we’ll be hosting our first multi-part reading series, where we’ll be reading the entirety of Against His-story, Against Leviathan! Each discussion will take place on the last Sunday of the month between July and September, as follows:
Bair, who goes by “Cotton Hill” on Telegram, first publicly joined S14 during the Spring of 2023. Bair quickly got acquainted with Mark Kauffman, a leader of S14, and began cross posting propaganda from different local far right organizations. He also bragged about the amount of graffiti and stickering he was doing for White Lives Matter over the Dover and York PA area.
At some point during this time, Kauffman and Bair got closer and began hanging out socially and doing different actions together in person.
Bair was interested in impressing his peers and getting more involved in S14. When Bair’s doxx by Philly Antifa dropped in May, he used it as an opportunity to try and gloat and look tough to his fellow Neo-Nazis, declaring on the S14 public telegram channel that his address listed in the doxx was incorrect.
If Bair’s ego had been in check he wouldn’t have made the serious operational security (opsec) mistake of publicly mentioning that the address listed for him was wrong. Bair and his family have moved upwards of half a dozen times over the past four years, muddling their living history. He could have easily chosen not to say anything and protect his and his family’s anonymity but ultimately, Bair’s arrogance got the better of him.
Bair’s revelation enabled local antifascists to identify and confirm his actual current address: an apartment in a large multi family house on N Main Street in Dover, PA. Bair lives there with his long term girlfriend and their kids.
Antifascists were able to pull recent pictures from Bair’s family and compare them to photos from Bair’s rental history. Through a process of elimination the house on N Main Street in Dover, PA was positively identified as Bair’s current residence.
For whatever reason Bair thinks the information released about him in the May 2023 doxx, including his dropped lawsuit against York PA police, prior drug arrests, his positive identification as a failed January 6 insurrectionist, and his court martial and discharge from the Marines, is a badge of honor. Bair has no sense of self reflection or preservation, as he has functionally changed nothing about how he operates, further opening up his entire family to potential consequences for his own independent actions.
To top things off, Bair has recently been in the habit of promoting S14 and the Common Sons of Pennsylvania by directly involving his very young children and his girlfriend in propaganda. At the time of publishing it is unclear if Bair’s girlfriend has any direct involvement in either Neo-Nazi group.
Bair’s hubris and opsec may in fact be the worst out of the entire group, even outshining Kauffman. During the week of July 17, 2023, Bair posted a series of voice messages whining about NJ Hate Watch’s coverage of Kauffman stating verbatim “what do I have to do to be mentioned”. Bair was likely trying to act tough while sucking up to Kauffman.
Despite awareness of the continued coverage and exposure of S14’s members, the group is largely acting as if nothing has happened. This is of course on top of them being surveilled by the state (Nicholas Mucci was connected to WLM and S14 members after getting picked up by the federal government and several state agencies after a protest).
S14 members consider this a warning: With addition of Mathew Bair, five of your members have officially been identified and doxxed including Paul Minton, Daisy McGowan, Mark Kauffman, and Sara Sheaffer. If you continue to operate your members will continue to be exposed, the pressure will be increased, and there will be real world repercussions.
As we work to build a solidarity economy, where we truly take care of each other and have our collective well-being at the heart of our everyday, the summit can sometimes be a steep climb in a world currently created to keep us separate and in competition with one another. A question organizers must ask themselves, and each other, again and again is: how do we build capacity for this work while also knowing and respecting our own individual and communal capacities?In collaboration with PACA member co-ops: Obvious Agency and Making Worlds, PACA continues its solidarity economy assemblies on Thursday, June 29th, 2023, from 6:30-8pm.
This second assembly will be facilitated by Obvious Agency and it will be a communal discussion of how we can build, investigate, honor, and take care of our collective capacities.Together we will investigate what drains and robs our capacities (bullshit jobs and isolated realities, for starters), as well as how we take our time and energy back. We will discuss how we’ve been conditioned to show up to “work”, how we decondition from that which does not serve us and only moves us towards the problems of burnout or accumulating social capital instead of dollars, as well as how we reframe showing up to efforts which matter to us. We will discuss how do we actually create capacity for this work (*cough* – more people – *cough*). Also, what is the world we’re actually trying to forge so that our practices of self- and collective-care aren’t just maintenance to shove us back into the grind, but instead we have spaciousness and possibility to allow us to have elements of being with those we love, being in regenerative solitude, showing up to the work which matters to us, immersing ourselves in other activities which gives us joy and meaning, and so much more.
We hope you’ll join us for this critical conversation around our collective capacity.
The good folks of Obvious Agency are, “Makers of games and interactive performances.” They are a “Worker-owned cooperative.” And they are, “Developing Space Opera – a game engine for building community”. https://www.instagram.com/obviousagencycoop
Thursday, July 27, 2023
6:30 PM 8:00 PM
Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center210 South 45th StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19104United States(map)
A TENANT WAS SHOT BY A MERCENARY DURING AN EVICTION (AGAIN)
On Tuesday, July 18th, a “deputy landlord-tenant officer” shot a 33-year-old woman in the leg during an eviction. On Wednesday, June 28th, a “deputy landlord-tenant officer” shot a dog during an eviction. On Wednesday, March 29th, a “deputy landlord-tenant officer” shot a woman in the head during an eviction. THEY CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT! Marisa Shuter needs to be held accountable for the violence enacted by her deputies !Stay tuned for further calls to action
Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross and MXGM Philly invites you to our sixth annual Running Down The Walls (RDTW)! Join us for another revolutionary 5K run/walk/roll and day of solidarity amplifying the voices of our comrades behind bars, lifting them up in their struggles, and maintaining material support. If you would like to participate in light yoga and warm-up stretches before, please arrive by 10am and bring a mat if you can.
Running is not required! You can also walk, roll, or cheer. 5K is two loops around the park and at a walking pace will take about 45-60 minutes. Light refreshments and socializing will take place in the park afterward.
This year’s event will benefit the ABCF Warchest, and community and Weelaunee forest defenders facing repression from the ongoing efforts to #StopCopCity. Join us as we once again raise energy and funds for the freedom of political prisoners and the struggles they are caged for.
Cop City Will Never Be Built!
Vive vive Tortuguita!
#StopCopCity#DefendWeelaunee#JusticeForTort
This year marks a milestone in the Warchest program as we surpassed $205,000 in funds raised! Due to the abominable conditions that political prisoners and freedom fighters are subjected to, and the prevalence of health issues from medical neglect, they need our support now more than ever. Join us as we celebrate our successes this last year and build momentum for the struggles ahead!
If you cannot make it to the event or would like to make an additional contribution, please sponsor a participant either outside prison, inside prison, or one of each. Contact us for more information on sponsoring!
We will ship official shirts nationwide to people who register to participate remotely, pay online and leave their shipping address in the comment box!
Proceeds will be split between the Warchest Program and legal aid to support arrestees from the movement to Stop Cop City. The ABCF Warchest program sends monthly stipends to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War who have insufficient, little, or no financial support.
[Sunday, September 11, 2022 11 am sharp (Yoga warm-up at 10am) FDR Park
Deadline is September 3rd. Don’t wait until the last minute!]
S14, known officially as Storm 14, is a Tristate (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York) Neo-Nazi organization that has been increasingly active in the region as of March 2023. They have been busy with banner drops, conducting protests, and doing large scale stickering and graffiti campaigns, in an effort to recruit masses of young people and push their fascist agenda. Their escalating activity, includes the rollout of a propaganda subcommittee, which stages flashy fascist demos like their recent midnight New Brunswick march, as a part of their larger organizational growth strategy.
To analyze S14’s current activity and future organizational trajectory a closer look at their origin must be taken.
Back in October 2022, an Illinois based Neo-Nazi known by the alias Stephen Quest, put out a call on Stormfront that he was forming a national socialist organization called the National Socialist Youth Alliance (NSYA), aimed at young people. Quest modeled this organization after the National Alliance. He requested that interested people message him to help form on the ground attachments.
Quest created a closed Gab account for the NSYA and altered his personal account to recruit young people and create tangible on the ground cells. At this point in time, Quest began actively recruiting and connecting with prospective members on Gab.
At some point in late 2022, Quest formed a circle of other leaders and began to push for in person attachments and actions to take place. Quest placed a Nazi using the alias “Joachim Peiper”, as the leader or “commandant” and took up post as the second in command. (Peiper has since been unmasked as Philadelphia resident Mark A. Kauffman). Kauffman’s Gab account was created during this time as well. Kauffman took charge in leading on the ground support and action for the NSYA in the Tristate area.
In early January 2023, Kauffman officially launched the NSYA’s Tristate attachment at a collaborative protest in Hamilton NJ, in support of the right wing January 6 insurrection prisoners. Kauffman and other NSYA members, including Kauffman’s fiance Sara Sheaffer, worked with WLM-PA and NJEHA and their leader Dan D’ambly for this protest.
Kauffman and the NSYA also unveiled their organization flag at this same protest, signalling its usage for the first time on the ground.
Kauffman and the NSYA Tristate attachment continued to do actions with D’ambly and NJEHA, WLM-PA, and other fascists like Embrace Struggle AC and Atlantic Nationalist Club throughout January and February 2023. They coordinated cross posts on all of their respective organizations social media to promote their partnership.
Despite increasing organizational overlap and connections being forged within the Tristate far right, as of February 2023, Kauffman and Quest were drifting a part organizationally. Reportedly Quest began acting erratically.
After an internal power struggle the NSYA split, with Quest keeping the NSYA organization and moniker and Kauffman leaving with the majority of membership behind him to start a different iteration of the group, S14.
Kauffman launched S14 in March 2023. With Kauffman now in place as the organization’s head, or “commandant”, he instituted a new ranking system, logos, and different organizational structures with a primary focus on recruitment and propaganda.
Notably, Kauffman has forged strong bonds with several subordinates, who he has given leadership positions to, in order to help direct S14’s subcommittees and regular day to day activities. This includes his fiance Sheaffer, who now acts as his second in command and is taking on greater responsibility for S14’s functioning. As such, S14 has been producing recruitment propaganda and running in person actions between NJ and PA at a steady rate since the split.
Internally, with Kauffman at the helm of S14 and Sheaffer at his side, the organization’s main drive is on building up base membership numbers. Kauffman specifically has special interest in recruiting underage teenagers and those in their 20’s and 30’s.
Kauffman and his circle, which includes minors in organizational leadership roles, has been very active inundating both PA and NJ with physical and virtual recruitment materials, as evident by both the mainstream news and their own propaganda videos. Their propaganda subcommittee has been prolific in creating both general S14 propaganda and merchandise for them internally.
Externally, Kauffman and S14 has put a lot of energy into promoting cross-organizational membership and solidarity between the different fascist organizations in the area. Kauffman is open about the fact he is also personally a member of WLM-PA and routinely references that members of NJEHA, S14, the Garden State Nationalists, WLM-PA, Embrace Struggle AC, and Atlantic Nationalist Club have crossover membership. Kauffman and his crew can also be seen in their varying propaganda videos putting up graffiti and stickers from these organizations as well.
While S14’s activity in the region has been escalating over time their bad security culture practices, probable swarming of state agencies, and resistance from antifascists leaves one to wonder how long they can keep this up before their behavior catches up with them. This is especially true now that certain S14 members like Kauffman, Sheaffer, Minton, and McGowan have been exposed and now have a magnifying glass on them. The heat will likely only be turning up higher considering their ownership over their Ridley Township white nationalist flyering action and their proven connections to Nicholas Mucci, who has the force of the state crushing him down.
Despite all of this including the recent doxxes of Kauffman and Sheaffer as covered NJ Hate Watch, S14 and their members don’t seem to be changing anything they are doing and are navigating their social media platforms as if nothing has happened. There are changes on the horizon however and S14 members will continue to be exposed for who they really are.
Report from Philadelphia on the recent protests against the ‘Mom’s for Liberty’ conference.
What follows is a short blow-by-blow report from the streets of Philadelphia, as people turned out to shout down the gender fascist “Mom’s for Liberty” conference which saw speeches from both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
As the Mom’s 4 Liberty summit kicked off with their first day of meetings, the dance party outside enjoyed themselves with raucous joy. Despite an absurdly large police presence when Donald Trump arrived to speak, the partiers managed to hold the street in front of the Marriott for the day. With temperatures pushing 90 and and air quality advisory from the Canadian wildfires, revelers were encouraged to mask up, drink water, and take care of each other.
Speakers from Act Up Philadelphia, Indivisible and other local organizations spoke about the need for solidarity and compassion in the shadow of this most recent rise in fascism. Large groups of Philadelphians joined from simultaneous actions around the city including striking Starbucks workers and librarians and educators focused on keeping the Pride events at area libraries safe.
Reports from inside the Marriott shared that all of the speakers at the M4L summit mentioned the protests and door knockers were hung on room doors calling out the fascists meeting in the building. The message is getting across loud and clear that fascists are not welcome in Philly.
As attendees left the building, many with police escort, they were heckled and shouted at. Once again Philly showed that we are a city that will fight fiercely for each other. The party continues Saturday and Sunday, kicking off with a specifically tailored Children’s Protest from 11-1pm on Saturday and culminating in an amazing line up of local DJs.
Saturday
Saturday’s protests outside of the Marriott in Philadelphia began with a protest specifically tailored to youth. Coloring books, chalk, sign making equipment and a truck for the children to be able to climb on and look out over the demonstration made for a cheerful, exuberant family focused atmosphere.
While fascist dignitaries such as Dennis Prager and the IG account “transition_justice” attempted to argue with the protestors, most people kept up the joyous dancing in an effort to “Dance the Hate Away.” An impromptu line dancing workshop and the Drag Queen Gospel Choir kept protestor spirits high and showcased all that the incredible queer community has to offer.
Philadelphia pigs showed themselves to be more aggressive today and maintained an intimidating presence across the street in partial riot gear. In reality all they did was idle their trucks and busses in a tunnel next to signs that clearly said “no idling” and collect overtime.
Sunday is the fourth and final day of both the conference and demonstrations.
Sunday
As the fascist hate group Moms 4 Liberty wrapped up it’s final day here in Philadelphia, the dance party continued outside. Revelers took the block by 10am, dancing to classics and new beats alike. Cases of water, coffee, snacks and activities for kids kept the party vibes going. The skate ramp from the day before was rolled out and the people of Philadelphia continued to make it clear that hate and fear would be countered with love and joy.
At 11am five local activists took the intersection at 12th and Filbert outside of the iconic Reading Terminal Market. Chanting “Philly is a Trans City” and wearing large silkscreened patches that said “Protect Trans Kids,” the activists stayed focused and calm as police pushed and shoved them, arresting all five.
As the conference wrapped up and members checked out, more aggressive provocation came from the out of town attendees. Two M4L conference goers came running towards the barricades laughing and throwing tee shirts at the protesters. One of them was quickly and thoroughly egged by a protester, and walked back in with a look of shock that there had been a consequence to her action.
As some higher profile media activists strutted around wearing sandwich boards with bible quotes on them and videoing the protestors, a woman ran through the barricades waving a trans flag and dancing. She was brutally thrown to the ground by an officer and arrested. The incident was posted on several social media accounts owned by M4L attendees, celebrating the Philadelphia Police Department for serving as the front-line defending gender fascism.
All arrestees were cited and released, one received medical attention at a local hospital.
The Mom’s 4 Liberty fascists decided to come to Philly and definitely found out that Philly is a queer city.
S14, officially known as Storm Division, is a tristate (NJ, PA, NY) area neo nazi group that has been very active over the past few months. They have been busy doing pop-up propaganda demos, trying to recruit virtual and in-person members, mass stickering and putting up fascist graffiti in the region, specifically in the Philadelphia area and NJ. They have also been pushing a united front amongst the far right in the area and openly hold multiple different memberships within groups like NJEHA, Embrace Struggle Active Club, WLM, Atlantic Nationalist Club, and the Garden State Nationalists.
Their activity has been increasingly organized with some of their most recent actions making local media headlines. Despite their high level of organization and escalating actions, S14 and their members have gotten sloppy with their own security.
Due to lapses in S14’s security, antifascists have been able to identify their two leaders, “commandant Joachim Peiper” and his “wife”, as Mark A. Kauffman and Sara Sheaffer respectively.
Kauffman and Sheaffer are engaged to be married and are both originally from Massachusetts, having lived in different parts of the state. According to Kauffman, they bounced around a bit in MA and settled in Philadelphia several years ago. Antifascists were able to independently verify Kauffman’s account and confirmed that as of now he and Sheaffer live in North Philadelphia on East Wishart Street. Kauffman also supposedly owns property in the south, “on the Mason Dixon line”.
Kauffman reportedly works in construction as a foreman at A Woman Owned Contractor, a “Hispanic owned” construction firm which does large scale commercial roofing and construction services. (More details on Kauffman’s employer and how to contact them will be listed at the end of the article).
Prior to moving to Philadelphia, Kauffman was in the US Army for several years and completed two combat tours in the Middle East. At that point he was already a nazi, as he stated in a public message on S14’s telegram channel.
There was no media follow up on how the case against Kauffman turned out and nothing was publicized. It’s not clear exactly when Kauffman and Sheaffer got clean and moved to Philadelphia, but it is suspected to be around the 2018/2019 time frame.
Kauffman’s white nationalist activities prior to 2022 are hazy, but it seems that Kauffman decided to publicly organize and establish ties with other fascists during 2022 on Gab. He was then connected with a fellow white nationalist, going by the alias Stephen Quest, who was recruiting members and leadership within a neo nazi organization called the National Socialist Youth Alliance (NSYA).
Kauffman officially launched S14 in March 2023, when he and others split from the NSYA. Upon starting this new nazi organization, Kauffman, with the help of Sheaffer, instituted new organizational security and logistical guidelines and started recruiting efforts both online and in-person. Kauffman made a serious effort to create a nazi safe space on telegram, shying away from infighting and trying to build camaraderie among members.
He also increased the rate of in-person actions within his tristate area crew encouraging pop-up style protests during the day and night time propaganda dissemination actions.
In addition, Kauffman implemented different security guidelines for the public S14 Telegram chat like not discussing illegal activity, not giving out personal info or personal phone numbers to other group members, no infighting, and no glorification of white nationalists who have committed mass shootings. Kauffman has thus far strictly enforced his group’s code, often banning members for breaking these rules.
Ironically though, Kauffman does not hold himself to the same high standard. Kauffman’s first major mistake was providing a detailed background of his life in public Telegram chats which enabled antifascists to construct a profile on him. This included his time in the military, prior life in New England, veiled details about his day job, and the fact he currently lives in North Philly.
His second major mistake was providing information about the level of his fiance’s involvement and unintentionally revealing his fiance’s identity on the S14 public telegram channel.
At the time, Kauffman likely didn’t think too much about mentioning his fiances legal name, because he was using it to try and recruit more women to his crew. Fascist and white nationalist groups are well known to have an absence of women for a variety of reasons, so leveraging female membership is something that would have been valuable to Kauffman and S14 as a whole.
Unfortunately for him, Kauffman’s revelation is the only reason that antifascists were able to find Sheaffer and confirm her identity. Kauffman took basic steps to erase information about himself on the internet, removing many links that could potentially expose him. This coupled with the fact that he and Sheaffer are not legally married added another layer of removal, functionally creating a situation where Sheaffer would be very difficult to identify without her legal name. Because antifascists had her first name they were eventually able to definitively identify and link Sheaffer to Kauffman and S14.
Other white supremacist activity in the area, the source of which has not been able to be identified until now, can also be ascribed to Sheaffer. A female member of Atlantic Nationalist Club has been trolling Philadelphia area antifascists on Telegram for a period of time throwing up racist stickers across the city.
The individual in the Atlantic Nationalist Club video is a white female wearing an engagement ring who quickly puts up a sticker on a utility poll. Given Sheaffer’s background info and the shooting style of the video, the likelihood of this being anyone but her is incredibly low.
S14 has prided themselves themselves on their anonymity, security culture, and ability to do things anonymously for months from behind the comfort of a mask. That time is now over. Kauffman and Sheaffer must be exposed for the nazis that they are.
Kauffman’s reported most recent employer, AWOC, can be reached at their main offices at 215-219-3579 or through email through their website. The following script and photos from the article can be used to contact AWOC about Kauffman.
“Hello I am a concerned Philadelphia resident and I am calling to inquire about the status of an AWOC employee. Mark Kauffman, an AWOC foreman, is a neo nazi and white supremacist. Kauffman regularly engages in bigoted and even illegal behavior directed towards minorities and marginalized people. I am happy to provide concrete evidence of his actions. If Kauffman is still employed at AWOC, it is not a safe environment for anyone. I request that action be taken immediately through terminating his employment. Thank you for your time.”
Local antifascists received a tip from a concerned Princeton area resident on the morning of July 1st, 2023 that NJEHA and other fascists were at a Walmart on the outskirts of Princeton. Based on this tip, antifascists were able to mobilize and disrupt their meet up in the Walmart parking lot and gather intel. The group included members of NJEHA, Embrace Struggle Active Club, and Garden State Nationalists.
NJEHA members and the other fascists were spotted at the Walmart around 9am July 1, 2023. They soon found themselves unexpectedly surveilled by antifascists. They were visibly taken by surprise and it was clear they were not expecting anyone other than their own comrades as no one took any effort to cover their faces, license plates, or other personal property.
Some of the fascists must still be identified, however, there were some familiar faces including Paul Minton and Dan D’ambly. Minton, who was previously an antifascist, but backslid into fascism in 2020, was caught with his mask off talking to two other fascists. D’ambly was caught by his blue/green Toyota Camry with another fascist.
The fascists scrambled on what to do next and divided into two groups, one group lagged behind at the Walmart lot and the other set out to their intended destination, which ended up being downtown Princeton, NJ. Antifascists were able to discover this in real time through on ground surveillance work, which was successful because of the fascist’s sloppy tactics and security measures. While they attempted to use counter measures like staggering the time their members left, and later, waiting around Princeton in the hope that antifascists would leave, NJEHA, Embrace Struggle Active Club, the Garden State Nationalists, and their associates were unable to shake antifascists.
Antifascists were able to mobilize quickly in Princeton once D’ambly and his crew hit the ground for their march and immediately began to disrupt their efforts. They were shouted down with a bullhorn and random passerby’s started to harass them as well. At one point one of D’ambly’s grunts tried to pass out NJEHA fliers and members of the public refused to take them, crumpling them up and throwing them on the ground like the trash they were.
With their efforts foiled and heavy resistance from the general public and antifascists the assorted group of fascists gave up unceremoniously. They were spotted shortly after waiting for public transport by antifascists who were in the area.
D’ambly, Minton, and their fascist lackeys will probably try and spin their march and actions taken today as successful. That they were brave “American patriots” who took on antifascists in the streets. We know however that this couldn’t be further from the truth.