Also from @TwitrHagen, just a few feet from Doles - III% Security Force head Chris Hill is present, unarmed and without his usual outfit. Also at Atlanta, GA Capitol Building just before 1PM ET:
No militias spotted here yet but footage from a smaller gathering recorded by @LauraJedeed outside the Capitol in Salem, Oregon just after 1PM ET (10 AM PT):
No militias spotted here yet but some photos shared by @travis_view from the California State Capitol building in Sacramento, California (photos from before 12:30 PM ET (9:30 AM PT):
As @LauraJedeed reports, a really normal one happening at the ongoing rally outside the State Capitol Building in Salem, Oregon, this quote around 2:30 PM ET (11:30 AM PT):
Update on the Atlanta protests via @afainatl screencap of the @ajc: group tried to enter the Georgia State Capitol Building, time unknown, potentially around 2:00 or 3:00 PM ET
Another update from @LauraJedeed at the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem, Oregon, where Proud Boys are now outside, pro-Trump protesters saying "let the police do the dirty work", around 4:45 PM ET (1:45 PM PT):
Right wingers now shooting paintballs and beating with batons a counterprotester nearby. Proud Boys highly involved in the violence in Salem, Oregon, reports @LauraJedeed around 5:00 PM ET (2:00 PM PT):
Another QT of @dburghart of protesters at the governor's house in Olympia Washington. Several from the stream clearly armed, even as right-wing demonstrators force their way through the gates of Jay Inslee's home:
Cross-country experience: GA last month, WA this month - dudes armed with long rifles on the lawn of the governor because the election didn't go the way they wanted:
Olympia, Washington sees a literal Nazi shouting "one bullet for every fucking Boomer - Day of the Pillow, motherfucker!" at a livestreamer before yelling at random other MAGA activists at the gathering in front of the governor's home:
This is an incomplete list as of now but I'll update it soon with more militia activity from today (and beyond). Data from these events will be available as part of @ACLEDINFO's US project at data release next week (keep an eye out if you want to use it!)
The Salt Lake City Capitol rally seems to have had some pretty tense moments. Here from @tstevensmedia, heavily armed Proud Boys chase a man out of the plaza, threatening him and press on the scene as they go:
In a KRGC 13 broadcast from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, an "America First" flag is visible among dozens of Trump flags at the 6 January "stop the steal" rally there. facebook.com/krcgtv/videos/…
In an azcentral broadcast from Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, an attendee showed with an American Constitutional Elite (A.C.E.) III% hat (group largely defunct), and other militia folks showed for the 6 January "stop the steal" rally there. facebook.com/azcentral/vide…
Okay finishing up this thread! Here's some Proud Boys and Q folks at the Columbia SC gathering, filmed and photographed by @adammintzer. Reproducing two of his images to show the local PB uniform documented and Q proof:
Proud Boys photographed at 6 January gathering at the state capitol in Tallahassee, Florida. Included in an article by @TDOnline: tallahassee.com/story/news/202…
No photos for this one but screenshotting from a story documented in @highlandcopress that details Proud Boy and armed presence at Columbus, Ohio Statehouse protest on 6 January, too: highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The…
As mentioned before, the above events (with actors involved) are included as data in this week's @ACLEDINFO data release, which updates from the end of the year through last Friday for all of the US.
Here's my recent on the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme, how it’s been spread, and how it intersects with some cultural worlds I’ve been following for a while. Linked here and short thread below. hamptonstall.medium.com/lets-go-brando…
The “Let’s Go Brandon” meme comes from a probably mishearing of chants of “Fuck Joe Biden” shouted at a NASCAR race in Talladega at the start of the month. The clip is here (3 mins in, interview starts):
The piece will put this out better than my Twitter thread but there’s some things I want to highlight. The first is how rapidly the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme took off. Here’s Google interest of it versus what it replaces, “Fuck Joe Biden” hamptonstall.medium.com/lets-go-brando…
Much to cover in this story but first some background. In Sept, @MicahLoewinger and I did some joint work on the app and how it was used by militia groups in Georgia around BLM protests. Here’s the @onthemedia piece: wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/s…
With this joint project on Zello, we also worked on developing a social network of the high-authority users (owners, admins, mods) of the far-right channels we were looking at. This analysis was then visualized and published on @MilitiaWatch, here: militia.watch/read/zello-ope…
Going to do my best to QT and share "militia" presence in DC today (many are likely aiming more for 20 January, when another event is planned). Firearms are banned in DC so it's going to look a bit different than, say, Richmond or Atlanta.
Spotted by @ZTPetrizzo, some folks wearing camo and chest rigs, hanging out on a pillar outside of the White House around 11 AM ET on 6 January:
A printout handed to @EggerDC by an "ominous dude in camo" called for a "national militia" to join a 'muster' west of the Capitol, wear silver armbands to identify themselves as "lawful combatants". Handout near Capitol around 11 AM ET on 6 January:
Been a minute since a full piece has been up on the blog, but here's one I was working on for a while, cut into a first chunk available now ahead of the final day of GA voting (tomorrow): militia.watch/read/georgia-s…
The article, like a previous one on @MilitiaWatch, relies pretty heavily on social network analysis (via @kumupowered), which allows for the creation and analysis of this pretty dense network of actors and organizations militia.watch/read/georgia-s…
KL was, of course, the starting point for this network, which was based on photos together, events together, endorsements, public friendships, group affiliation etc. Here's her first-degree connections per this methodology that we all know by now: militia.watch/read/georgia-s…
Daily Mail ran a story yesterday about a 'border militia' forcing the surrender of 300 asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, that I wanted to provide a few comments on: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6…
I wrote on this militia, the "United Constitutional Patriots" on @MilitiaWatch. I'm drawing a couple bits from there, but adding as well (I think it's a good place to start for learning more about them regardless) : medium.com/militiawatch/m…
The DM article discusses the armed group stopping around 300 asylum-seekers, an action they have been increasingly engaged in for a few months now. Here are some shots from March included in my piece of this exact threatening act: medium.com/militiawatch/m…