There was much I had to leave on the cutting room floor of the Greater Idaho story I published yesterday, including one harrowing and damning detail about getting media coverage of a white Christian state in the PNW, which was discussed at the 1986 Aryan World Congress 1/x Robert Miles, a KKK leader, said that it was integral to get media coverage on the new-state idea. "So we get condemned by most people," he said. "But if one in a thousand viewers says, ‘Hey, right on, what a neat idea—let's turn the Pacific Northwest into an Aryan homeland..."

Many people have asked if I am a part of the Netflix show “Sins of Our Mother,” about the Vallow/Daybell case. No, I am not. I was very excited to see it though, but now that I have… I was shocked at the number of errors and overlooked issues in the show, including: - Lori Vallow’s parents somehow lie about the number of children they birthed? Lori’s sister Stacy, mother of Melani Boudreaux (a critical player in the story), is simply deleted from the family tree. Her story is critical to understanding Lori’s nieces’ affection for her aunt.

I've done a couple of speaking engagements lately where the same question has come up: "does it bother you when people call you a podcaster?" Short answer: yes, yes it does. Why? It overlooks my 20 years as an investigative reporter. Secondly, it suggests to me that the only notable work I've done are podcasts. For two decades, I've written stories that didn't get turned into podcasts. And the subjects of each and every one of those is so important to me.

Some interesting news in the When the Moon Turns to Blood/Bundy adjacent news: at the forthcoming Book of Mormon Evidence conference, Ammon Bundy's #oregonstandoff attorney Morgan Philpot will give a talk called "The End of All Nations" on the main stage. The conference is really a who's who of hyper-conservative, fringe LDS figures: purveyors of the Heartland theory, Constitutionalists... a milieu I talk about in my book, but that @CristinaMartaR writes about concisely here: juvenileinstructor.org/the-mormonisms…

Surprising absolutely no one in the Inland Northwest, two of the Patriot Front members crammed into the U-Haul this weekend are connected to a church helmed by former Rep Matt Shea. Who is that, you ask? *deep inhale* A thread: Shea is a former Washington state representative who represented Spokane Valley. In that position, he took the time to travel to both the 2014 and 2016 armed standoffs helmed by the Bundys; invited Oath Keepers head Stewart Rhodes to discuss battle tactics over tacos…

Reports saying that only 1 person involved in the 31-person Patriot Front group detained today is from Idaho. So, not an Idaho group necessarily. As the national media zooooooms 🚁 🚁 on in, some background: This might not be an Idaho based group, but North Idaho (and the region) remains particularly attractive to people with far right ideas. Historically speaking, CDA is not far from the former compound of the Aryan Nations, which was vehemently opposed by locals.

Very glad to see national media is paying attention to the embrace of the far-right in the west. This is not only a politics problem, but a religion problem. I’ve been writing about this almost exclusively since 2015. A long thread: One thing I’ve come to understand is that people who believe the world can end at any moment, or perhaps embrace that as a part of their religion, are willing to do just about anything to see politics go their way…