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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3) The posts Stinson allegedly wrote that the FBI say constituted criminal threats against President Trump go all the way back to 2020, and continue on X (then Twitter) until 2022.
VIDEO THREAD: Anti-ICE protesters gathered again outside the loading bay of a federal building in downtown LA on Thursday evening, where police declared an unlawful assembly.
Officers pushed into the crowd, firing a less lethal round and arresting at least one person.
2) A man (not clear to me which agency) pointed a scoped rifle directly into the crowd of protesters and press as police threatened arrest.
The activists celebrated a small victory as a judge temporarily enjoined the National Guard from being deployed at Trump's directive without California's executive approval, a decision which has since been overturned.
Some activists, but one in particular, vehemently instructed the crowd to obey the order to leave, which ultimately fragmented the crowd.
3) A handful of protesters ended up inside of a kettle formation, which closed in on and arrested them.
Two vehicles adorned with pro-immigrant and pro-Palestine symbols were also towed from inside the kettle.
VIDEO THREAD: Protesters assembled Friday afternoon on the National Mall to demand Congress invoke the 14th Amendment to remove Trump from office as an "insurrectionist."
"It's not exaggeration, and it's not melodrama," said the program's MC Cliff Cash. "Donald Trump is a Russian asset."
"Traitor! Traitor!" yelled the crowd, who held a variety of signs condemning Trump as well as Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance.
"Serve no kings," read one banner with a guillotine drawn on it.
2) Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn spoke out, describing that he had a PTSD attack seeing this anti-Trump crowd, many of whom are veterans wearing military gear etc.
"The last time I saw everybody like this, they were beating the s*** out of me and my coworkers at the Capitol," he said, to which the crowd yelled "traitors!"
"November 5th, we had an opportunity," he added. "We f***ed it up!"
"They cheated" an audience member yelled, to which Mr. Dunn replied "maybe."
He says some people with "backbone" need to use the 14th Amendment, Section 3, to get Trump out of office.
3) I spoke to a man wearing a "weed-based ghillie suit."
He says conservatives "need to smoke more weed."
"This whole thing about not smoking weed in the government, they've gotta get over that," the weed man said.
VIDEO THREAD: Hundreds participated today in the Transgender Unity Rally and march from the United States Capitol to the White House.
"Protect trans kids!" they chanted. "Out of the closet, into the streets!"
"Trans rights are human rights!"
2) Bree Taylor, Executive Director of the Trans Unity Coalition, described inviting members of Congress to the rally, but none showed up.
"Where are they?" the crowd asked.
Senator Chris Van Hollen sent a letter which was read out loud: "One of the most despicable things about Donald Trump is that he goes after the most vulnerable members of our society."
"We are all Americans, and we all have the right to live as our true, free selves."
"These are wonderful words, and only that. Where the f*** are you?" asked Taylor, who called him hypocritical over a prior vote on an NDAA amendment defunding trans affirming care for minors.
"We cannot rely on those who have nothing but empty, hollow words," Taylor added.
3) "Hey hey, ho ho, transphobia's got to go!" chanted protesters as they arrived at the White House. "What do we want? Trans rights! When do we want them? Now!"
"This is our place to be free to be who we want to be!" one speaker described, beginning an open mic south of the White House at the Ellipse.
VIDEO THREAD: Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola as well as Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes had a "reunion" this afternoon outside the United States Capitol, beginning at the original January 6 breach point on the west side.
All were granted pardons or commutations by Trump following decade+ prison sentences.
"Whose house?" they chanted as they posed for a photo. "Our house!"
"Whose desk?" yelled Richard "Bigo" Barnett, who was photographed with his feet on Rep Pelosi's desk on January 6.
2) Tarrio calls the Proud Boys chapters not recognized on his website (such as those that marched on Inauguration Day) "not legitimate."
"They've created their own faction," he explains. "Those are not Proud Boys."
He wouldn't answer say if he's the National Chairman again.
3) As Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes walked around the Capitol, they joked "tactical formation, look out!"
"We don't want anyone to think we're stacking!" one said, referencing the Oath Keepers' formation on January 6, before Joe Biggs led the group in mimicking it.