Among the major militias are the Proud Boys: The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project or ACLED writes,
- "The Proud Boys are a fascist youth movement oriented towards street-fighting. Their ideology is to 'defend western chauvinism.' The group is right-wing and anti-left in nature and has had several members convicted for violence. They were created by VICE News founder Gavin McInnes who has since backed away from the group (The Guardian, 22 November 2018). The Proud Boys rely heavily on jokes and silliness to downplay the group's proclivity for violence, both threatened and real. The current de facto leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, is also the Florida director of 'Latinos for Trump' (CNN, 1 October 2020). The Proud Boys are evolving into a more militant organization. Groups of young men increasingly show up to Proud Boys events with rifles and plate carriers."
SPLC describes two others:
- "Three Percenterism is one of three core components within the antigovernment militia movement, along with the Oath Keepers and traditional militia groups. The reference to three percent stems from the dubious historical claim that only 3 percent of American colonists fought against the British during the War of Independence."
and
- "The Oath Keepers, another core component of the militia movement, was founded in 2009 by Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a veteran army paratrooper, Yale Law School graduate and former Ron Paul congressional staffer. It primarily recruits current and former law enforcement, military and first-responder personnel, though it also accepts civilians. Unlike Three Percenterism, Oath Keepers was conceived as an organization with hierarchical leadership at national, state and local levels, one committed to establishing a network of activists it hopes will lay the groundwork for the creation of state militias."
Then you have the Boogaloo Bois, who are not so much an organization as a set of shared beliefs expressed online, and who have ruined Hawaiian shirts for me. They believe in an imminent race war, the Boogaloo, and are extremely violent. They use "big luau" for Boogaloo online to avoid NSA detection, and engage in other word play.
Benjamin Goggin and Rachel E. Greenspan write at The Insider:
- "The loosely organized group of predominantly white men call themselves the Boogaloo Bois, a name that comes from the cult 1984 film 'Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo,' but morphed in online message boards and groups to reference a theoretical second US civil war and uprising against the federal government. Online, where almost all of their organization occurs, members have created numerous groups and pages under the names 'big igloo' and 'big luau' in an attempt to avoid censorship from tech platforms. The far-right group, born from 4chan's /k/ board, which is dedicated to gun worship, has no firm central organization, and only has a loose collection of shared values."
Law enforcement underestimated these groups on 1/6. They must not do that again, not on 1/17 or on 1/20. Trump has whipped them up with his endless lies about the election being stolen from him, and clearly he has put Joe Biden's life in danger.
Bonus Video:
NBC News: "FBI Memo Warns Of Possible Armed Protests At All 50 State Capitols | NBC News NOW"
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