Right now: as a sort of street convention called #BreonnaCon for #BreonnaTaylor takes place in Louisville, KY, III% militia groups are gathering in the area.
I’ll be doing my best to document them throughout the day, particularly their interactions with BLM and law enforcement.
They just had a prayer and it seems like they’re going to march shortly. I’ll be livestreaming soon.
I count 24 of them, but something interesting: they tell me that actually another “Patriot” Militia will be showing up that they disavow and consider to be racist. It’s unclear to me how many that might draw.
But first, the militia has to pay to park.
So for the past couple hours, the militia group basically stayed in the parking lot. At first, they tried to block it off so only militia could use it.
Local PD told them they couldn’t do that.
They spent the time so far guarding their cars and talking to a handful of media.
At this point it’s started to rain, so some of them are getting into their cars.
One interesting development is that the group has a new name and no longer identifies with III%.
They are now the “National Patriotic Defense Team.”
So the competing militia rally got cancelled, so there’s basically a handful of those guys standing under a bridge near their rally point telling people to leave if they show up.
Meanwhile, the militia I started the day covering - which calls itself the “National Patriotic Defense Team” was just about to leave.
I asked their leader Tara "Hoggirl" Brandau whether they considered the day a success, and they said yes, opposing groups didn’t show.
The militia switched parking lots and ordered pizza.
They say that they’re “on standby” in case violence breaks out elsewhere, they’d drive to that location.
In the meantime, rifles are away and they’re just hanging out.
The “National Patriotic Defense Team” stuck around tonight, listening to a police radio.
Their plan was basically to go anywhere a situation formed that they thought police would be overwhelmed at.
None ever came, and it seems they’re wrapping up.
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VIDEO THREAD: Armed gun rights activists rallied at the Virginia State Capitol on Monday to protest proposed gun measures under new Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger.
The Virginia Kekoas militia wore "Boogaloo" style attire for the first time publicly since 2023.
"All the rights, for all the people, all the time" explained the group's leader, who goes by ICE (which is not a reference to the agency of the same name). "We're just going back to our heritage, where we started."
"Things are a little bit more serious this year," explained the Kekoas member who goes by Sasquatch. "This is our unofficial battle cry!"
"I swear I'm not a swinger," he clarified, referencing the pineapples on his Hawaiian shirt.
2) "I'm generally a pretty liberal person, but when I saw videos of ICE jumping out of unmarked vehicles and nabbing people off the street, that's when I bought my first AR15," one attendee of the gun rally explained.
"We're facing tyranny right now, and I want to be prepared if that stuff comes to my neighborhood."
"Tyrannical government, whatever your take on it, that's the point of these bad boys right here," Virginia Kekoas militia member call-sign cross responded to that position, slapping the butt of his rifle.
3) The Virginia Capitol lawn was closed off to attendees carrying firearms, splitting the crowd into those carrying and not.
A man dressed as George Washington attempted to argue with police that his musket is "not a firearm" but was not allowed to pass.
VIDEO THREAD: Pardoned January 6er Jake Lang attempted to hold an anti-Muslim "Crusader March" in Minneapolis today where he was swarmed with hundreds of counter-protesters.
Scuffles broke out, and one of his members sprayed mace around the crowd.
2) Amidst "Feels like -7 F" degree temperatures, protesters sprayed Lang and his crew with water guns as well as silly string while drowning him out with music over a loudspeaker.
Lang apparently was prepared to leave, but couldn't find a path as protesters continued to physically challenge him and his group.
"Let them leave!" some protesters yelled.
3) Lang, who fought police with a baseball bat at the Capitol on January 6, was struck with a wooden stick by a counter-protester.
He grabbed it, briefly holding it up in triumph and keeping control of it until it was grabbed out of his hands.
VIDEO THREAD: Federal agents deployed tear gas, mace, and sting balls against a growing crowd at the scene Wednesday night in Minneapolis following a shooting by ICE.
Some protesters shot fireworks and threw snowballs at the agents, many of whom carried rifles.
2) Agents moved fast while trying to evade the crowd. In one case, the feds got into the bed of a truck, dropped pepper spray and had to get out to grab it before a firework was thrown at them, for which they threw tear gas in return.
3) The scale of the conflict was enormous, spanning a few blocks in each direction from the shooting, lasting a couple hours.
Protesters exchanged fireworks and tear gas on one side of the shooting scene as others engaged with police on the opposite side.
VIDEO THREAD: Pardoned January 6er Jake Lang held a "Crusader" rally outside AIPAC Sunday afternoon, throwing (chocolate) gold coins at attendees dressed as politicians and suggesting "their Jewish money" has caused a "brownification of America."
A couple counter-protesters including former elected official Patricia Eugenio demonstrated against Lang and his group.
FOOTAGE FOR DOCUMENTARY, NEWS PURPOSES ONLY.
2) Ivan Raiklin, an advocate for the January 6er's, confronted Lang at the podium.
While maintaining a cordial tone, he said Lang has "got it all wrong" by focusing on immutable attributes rather than "deep state traitors" "based on their actions, and actions alone."
3) Lang and Raiklin jokingly wrestled for the mic before Raiklin suggested that "You're about a block away from your employer, right? FBI Washington Field office?"
"Says the guy who never got indicted for January 6!" Lang replied.
DOCUMENT THREAD: Four members of the pro-Palestine, left-wing "Turtle Island Liberation Front" have been arrested in an alleged bomb plot after being exposed to at least one FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS) and one Undercover Employee (UCE).
2) The FBI begins their summary of probable cause by saying that their PAID informant (CHS) "has been a reliable source of information since in or around August 2021."
They say the informant was given a handwritten bomb plot titled "OPERATION MIDNIGHT SUN” in November by defendants, but do not detail any conservations that led up to this occurring.
They do not describe how long the group had been exposed to this CHS prior to their alleged escalation into bomb plotting.
3) The group allegedly planned on extensive steps to conceal their participation in the plan, including encasing their phones in bricks before submerging them into water, and using black bloc clothing, which they wrote down and handed to a federal informant in an 8-page document.
The criminal complaint against Brian Cole Jr has been released, detailing the government’s evidence that this Virginia man is the January 5, 2021 pipe bomber.
The evidence basically amounts to three categories:
-Cell phone pings allegedly placing him at the scene
-Purchases over the prior more than a year of materials consistent with the devices
-A vehicle allegedly matching his leaving the area on that night
Notably, while government sources have reportedly characterized Cole as “anarchist,” this criminal complaint does not characterize any evidence related to ideological background or motive.
I also find it notable that the FBI places some of the relevant purchases which they allege were components for the pipe bombs as early as 2019.
While some components were purchased in November 2020 (post election) this timeline would seem to imply he was working on such a device *prior* to the 2020 election being disputed.