| RIPTIDE | ▼ WESTON GIVESENDGO TO SEDITIONISTS T CHRISTIAN CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN BACKS ALLEGED JAN. 6 RIOTER. BY ALEX DELUCA o some, Mason Courson is Broward man #Tweedledumb, arrested in late December for his alleged role in the deadly attack to stop the certification of electoral votes at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. But, to his mother, Angelica Rea, the 26-year-old is still her “Patriot Son” — at least according to a campaign created in her name on the Christian crowdfunding plat- form GiveSendGo that seeks to raise $50,000 to help cover Courson’s legal fees and other financial obligations. The cam- paign states that Courson had “no ill intent” when he went to watch then-President Trump speak but wound up in a situation he “never imagined.” “He is a man with a strong Christian faith, an incredible father, son, and brother, and loves his country, believes in freedom,” the campaign states, “a true patriot as we are all now called.” Courson’s mother didn’t respond to New Times’ request for comment, and it’s unclear when the campaign launched. As of Wednes- day evening, no money had been raised. In the immediate aftermath of the Capi- tol riot, the popular crowdfunding site Go- FundMe announced that it had “removed several fundraisers attempting to challenge the legitimate results of the 2020 election” and would continue to remove any fund- raisers that “spread misinformation about the election, promote conspiracy theories GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ BRICKELL BEAR A GRUDGE N A TAXIDERMY BEAR TAUNTS RESIDENTS OF A LUXURY BRICKELL CONDO. BY JESS SWANSON ever mind lions and tigers. It’s a bear on a 14th-floor balcony that has residents of the Palace condo- minium in Brickell going “Oh my!” The bear, of course, is no longer alive and, ac- cording to its owner, Alex Roy, hasn’t been for more than 30 years. But that’s not immediately apparent to the number of concerned residents at the Palace and neighboring towers who have called the building’s management ever since Roy placed the five-foot-long taxidermied creature on top of his patio furniture in mid-February. “I get a phone call from the building man- ager, who is lovely, and she goes, ‘Mr. Roy, I be- lieve we have had multiple conversations about Photo by Alex DeLuca/Courtesy of FBI and contribute to or participate in attacks on U.S. democracy.” As their loved ones were arrested in con- nection with the Capitol riot, families and friends turned to GiveSendGo — which bills itself as the “#1 free Christian crowdfunding site” and “a place to fund hope” — to help cover their mounting legal fees. For example, friends and family of Miami-born Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio raised more than $113,000 on GiveSendGo after he was ar- rested for burning a Black Lives Matter ban- ner owned by a historic Black church and possessing high-capacity firearm magazines. A Washington Post investigation found that 24 people raised at least $247,000 on GiveSendGo to participate in and in connection with various “Stop the Steal” our pet policy.... What is the situation with the bear that appears to be on your patio?’” Roy tells New Times. Roy says he assured the building manager that the American black bear is a piece of taxi- dermy and “hasn’t moved,” but the building man- ager asked if he was sure because one neighbor had already threatened to call the police. “I told her, ‘Have the police come, please open my door, it’s perfectly safe, I promise it’s fine,’” he recounts, assuring her that a carnivorous mam- mal wouldn’t come lunging toward her if she came knocking. Though the building manager still seemed apprehensive, Roys says there were “howls of laughter” over the phone after he sent her a photo of the bear’s frozen expression and stance. “Not everyone appreciates it,” Roy says with a shrug, “but I have a 3-year-old who thinks it’s great.” The Arquitectonica-designed Palace, with its A campaign on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo seeks to raise $50,000 to help cover Mason Courson’s legal fees. events, including the January 6 rally in Washington, D.C. GiveSendGo founder Jacob Wells tells New Times the company hosts fundraising campaigns for all people, “including the ideo- logical right and left,” and that its mission to “share the hope of Jesus” applies to everyone. “There are many campaigns on Gi- veSendGo that we do not agree with, but we allow them because they are legal endeavors,” Wells writes in an emailed statement. “We have an opportunity to share the hope we have with them.” Courson, who grew up in Weston and “I WOULD CHAIN HIM DOWN, BUT THAT WOULD PROBABLY SCARE EVERYONE EVEN MORE.” geometric, red tiers, is immediately recognizable on the city skyline. Though the building, which went up just south of SE 15th Road in 1981, has 42 floors, Roy — who is a rally race driver, podcaster, and director of special operations at the self- driving car technology company Argo AI — scored a unit in one of the famed “red steps” when he moved to Mi- ami last October. Roy admits he didn’t read all the pa- perwork and was peeved to learn that the building forbids all pets except for service animals. “I don’t have a dog but, like Larry David, I’d like to have the choice,” he says. “I saw other people with dogs, and I thought it was an injus- tice since they can’t all be service animals.” moved to Tamarac in the past year, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in late December. According to a November 17 federal indictment, he faces eight federal charges, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and inflicting bodily injury, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He is also accused of joining the mob of ri- oters chanting, “Heave, ho!” as they bashed their way into the Capitol, leaving D.C. Met- ropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges crushed and bleeding between two doors. Last month, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation released a report titled “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection,” which examined how Christian nationalism — the belief that America should be a Christian nation — fu- eled the deadly attack “in a horrific and pre- viously unthinkable way to threaten American democracy,” and notes the heavy use of Christian imagery and symbolism at the Capitol that day. Sister Robin Haines Merrill, an artist and Christian missionary based in Fort Lauder- dale, condemns the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. She believes that as America grows more diverse, some Christians are lashing out — as they did at the Capitol on January 6. “It’s because they [Christians] are becom- ing a minority,” Merrill tells New Times, “Peo- ple feel that might is right, and the notion of manifest destiny, that God gave Christians this country, and therefore, they need to do whatever they can to keep it by force.” Last month, Courson’s attorney filed a mo- tion requesting a transfer from the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, to the D.C. Department of Corrections. Courson has a status conference scheduled for April 7. According to the campaign page, once Courson’s case is settled and he returns home, any “blessings” that are received will be used to assist other families in “similar situations.” That’s when Roy decided it was time to take his taxidermy bear out of storage and positioned it on the patio table “for maximum visibility.” He wasn’t concerned with a clash in interior dé- cor — he already fills his home with all sorts of ec- centric curios, including “three entire [taxidermy] animals and at least a dozen heads and skulls.” But out on the balcony, with its sweeping views of Biscayne Bay, things can get windy. Roy leaves the 30-pound bear outside, rain or shine. “Sometimes I’d come home and he’d be on the other side of the patio,” Roy admits. “Some days the wind completely rotated him around.” That’s why Roy can understand that in certain weather conditions, and from certain vantage points, it might appear as though the bear has come back to life. “I would chain him down,” he says, “but that would probably scare everyone even more.” [email protected] 33 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 APRIL 7-13, 2022