1. Leaving aside the specifics of this incident, this is a good reason why trainers need to be knowledgeable on what they train. Telling someone "put together a

"Report: KY training video with Nazi symbol was lifted from white supremacist site"

kentucky.com/news/politics-…
2. training on [niche subject x]," when they have no background in it, is asking them to carry a heavy load. After 9/11, for example, in a number of places, a person would be tasked with putting together a presentation on "Islamist terrorism" or some such, even though they had
3. no background in it. What did they do? They went to the web, where some of them had trouble distinguishing between legitimate sources and materials that were actually from anti-Muslim extremists. Though they had no intent to spread anything false or extremist, they just didn't
4. know. Someone with an actual background would be more likely to know where to go for reliable information and be better equipped to judge whether content was problematic or not. This is generally applicable and not just for law enforcement.

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More from @egavactip

16 Feb
I know this is a long shot, but is there anybody out there who might have access to issues of Dental Management magazine from circa 1978? I believe there are some extremist classified ads in the back that I'd like to see.
Okay, this tweet had garnered far more interest than I ever imagined (some people appear to have followed me because of it!).

For those asking for more info, I really don't know more than the below. The main ad I'm looking for would be Tax Strike News, a tax protest newspaper.
Update: someone may have found the reference for me! I've seen a partial page, waiting for the whole page. Will post, and give credit/shoutout when that happens. Looks like the reference was not actually a classified ad but something else.

Isn't Twitter wild?
Read 9 tweets
31 Jan
Warning: a typical Pitcavagean thread begins here. Read on at your own peril.

Note the phrase below, "we want our statement to resonate with the sheeple." The word "sheeple" is commonly used by people in the far right to refer to the American people, who passively believe
whatever the government/New World Over/media/Jews/Deep State/Name Yer Enemy tell them. When I began researching right-wing extremism in 1994 it was already on everybody's lips. Was it always this way, though? When did this phrase emerge? (or, given its simple construction, how
many different times did it independently emerge?"). Some words you can look up the etymology of, but slang terms are more difficult. However, you don't have to be an expert in order to do Internet sleuthing using Google Books and specifying various time ranges. The results
Read 15 tweets
29 Jan
1. Secession efforts--which happen regularly--tend to bore me. But this one, promoted by Biedermann and the so-called Texas Nationalist Movement, is interesting (to

"Texas Lawmaker Kyle Biedermann Introduces Bill Aimed at Seceding from the Union"

thedailybeast.com/gay-hitler-tex…
2. me) largely because of the history of the latter. The TNM, headed by Daniel Miller, traces its history back to the 1990s and one of the factions of the Republic of Texas, an anti-government extremist sovereign citizen group that plagued the state at the time with sovereign
3. "paper terrorism" tactics and, in 1997, a kidnapping and armed standoff in west Texas at the (double-wide) "Embassy" for the group and its then-leader, Richard McLaren. In the 90s, Daniel Miller was "vice-president," then later "provisional president" of one of the Republic
Read 7 tweets
26 Jan
The U.S. has a deep history of right-wing violence, so much so that many shocking incidents are largely forgotten. One such incident, which occurred in Woodburn, Oregon, in 2008, involved a father and son pair of anti-government extremists, Bruce and Joshua Turnidge.
The elder Turnidge, Bruce, once tried to start a militia and later told people the OKC bombing had been a good thing. Financial difficulties and fear that Obama would institute gun control caused them to decide to build a bomb with which to rob a bank, theoretically solving their
cash problems and allowing them to buy guns as well. Their harebrained scheme involved planting a bomb outside a bank, then phoning in a warning to clear people out. Apparently they thought they would then be able to rob it. Police were called in, but could find no bomb in the
Read 6 tweets
27 Dec 20
This is a short, anecdotal thread about UFO-related "terrorism" in the United States. We tend to think of terrorism as being related to the far right, or the far left, or extremist religious movements, but fanatic belief in any cause can potentially result in violent acts.
By way of explanation, I was thinking about the Nashville bombing last night, which got me to thinking about other unusual bombings involving vehicles (as target or delivery vessel), one of which was related to a fringe religious group focused on UFOs.
The group in question is the Outer Dimensional Forces, which still exists and has been based in Weslaco in far south Texas since 1966. Its founder, Orville Gordon (who called himself Nodrog), built a UFO landing pad for ships that would land and save himself and his followers
Read 25 tweets
2 Nov 20
Please stop conflating different American contexts for the word "militia;" it just creates confusion for people.

"Stanford’s Greg Ablavsky on Law and the History of American Militias"
law.stanford.edu/2020/10/12/sta…
There are three main contexts involving armed groups in which the word "militia" is used.

1. The historical/legal/statutory militia, which is referred to as "the militia," not as "militias." I simplify, but today it is basically the National Guard.

2. "Militias" as a *generic*
term for any non-actual-military armed group, particularly ones with a paramilitary bent to them (such as foreign examples like Shi'ite militias or Druse militias).

3. Paramilitary groups within the militia movement, a specific right-wing anti-government extremist movement.
Read 4 tweets

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