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Religious/Extremist Terrorism: Non-Muslim edition

The following is a translation from the original German in Stern Magazine:

Restructuring in the Bundeswehr
As a result of right-wing extremist incidents: Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to partially dissolve KSK elite troops
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to fundamentally restructure the Bundeswehr special forces command following a series of right-wing extremist incidents. Part of the elite force is to be completely dissolved for this.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to partially dissolve the KSK elite force after a series of right-wing extremist incidents. According to information from the "Welt" and the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", 70 soldiers are affected. The elite unit should also be deprived of sovereignty over training. The second company, which is considered the starting point for right-wing activities, will be dissolved without replacement, the minister said on Tuesday of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". This left the KSK with only three operational companies.

The CDU minister drew a critical conclusion about the situation at the KSK. The elite association had "become independent in part, also because there was a toxic leadership culture for individuals - it follows that the KSK cannot remain in its current state". Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to present the concept at a press conference on Wednesday.

No international exercises and assignments

Until a fresh start is achieved, the Bundeswehr special unit will not take part in international exercises and missions. The minister described the latest findings as "disturbing" and "alarming", according to which 48,000 rounds of ammunition and 62 kilograms of explosives had disappeared from the KSK. Now it is urgent to clarify whether sloppy records have been kept for years or whether war material has been stolen on a large scale, she said. Commander Markus Kreitmayr, who has led the association since 2018 and has clearly addressed the problems, should accompany the KSK through the reform process. "The wall of silence breaks," said Kramp-Karrenbauer. Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that a first balance should be drawn at the end of October. It is now a "probation opportunity" she told the newspaper. If the members of the KSK "did not hear this shot now, the question of reorganizing the KSK will inevitably arise," she added.

Again and again extremism cases at the KSK

The KSK has repeatedly made headlines with right-wing extremist incidents since 2017. It all started in April 2017 with a farewell party for a KSK commander, at which pig-heads were thrown, right-wing rocket played and the Hitler salute was shown. The Saxon police later found a weapon stash with ammunition and explosives at one of the party guests.

In January, the Military Shield Service (MAD) announced that 20 soldiers were suspected of being right-wing extremists. In relation to the number of troops, the proportion at that time was five times that of the Bundeswehr as a whole. In May, Kramp-Karrenbauer set up a working group to develop a concept to prevent right-wing extremist tendencies in the KSK, which she has now decided on.

According to a report by "Der Spiegel", an officer most recently addressed Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer with a sometimes dramatic cry for help. In the twelve-page letter , the captain complained that right-wing extremist tendencies were tolerated and covered up within the unit. References to right-wing extremist comrades within the elite association, which is around a thousand strong, would "be noticed internally, but collectively ignored or even tolerated for different motives".

https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/ksk--kramp-karrenbauer-will-elitetruppe-der-bundeswehr-zum-teil-aufloesen-9320512.html

See also: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8475425/Germanys-elite-KSK-commando-unit-partially-dissolved.html

(As a totally self-serving aside, back in 2012 when I published my first novel, Allies: The Inquiry, I included one character, a company commander (albeit of the 1st Company) in the KSK, Hauptmann Dieter Schäfer, who wore clothing and insignia indicative of one with Neo-Nazi leanings. Prescient or what?)

:cheers:
 
While surfing the internet came upon this FBI report about identifying individual terrorists and while it is four years old, I still thought some people might be interesting. And because the author uses both Islamic and non-Islamic terrorists as examples, I decided to post it here rather then over in the Islamic terrorist forum. 

Identifying Warning Behaviors of the Individual Terrorist

April 8, 2016

By J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D.

Tactical and often strategic, terrorist actions also are attention-seeking; the audience can be as important as the target. These acts are intentional, instrumental, and predatory, as well as planned, purposeful, and offensive.1 But, they may be rationalized as defensive. For instance, young ISIS recruits may believe falsely that the West is at war with Islam and that all Muslims must engage in violent jihad against unbelievers everywhere.

Traditional violence risk factors—history of such behavior, psychiatric disorder, or drug abuse—are somewhat useless in predicting the risk of lone terrorist acts. Most individuals identified as terrorists by such risk factors would be false positives, wrongly labeled as such.

For the past six years, I have worked with my colleagues to identify patterns of behavior closely related in time to acts of targeted violence, such as terrorism.2 Targeted violence differs from typical violence—emotionally charged, impulsive, and reactive—encountered by law enforcement.3 It entails a decision to act violently against a particular person, group, or institution. Persons carry it out in a planned manner as illustrated by such acts as the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack, which killed 14 people on December 2, 2015.4

We believe these patterns of conduct—warning behaviors—can provide an investigative template to help law enforcement agencies focus their attention on subjects of concern previously identified through intelligence gathering or other counterterrorism efforts. These behavior patterns can help the investigator step back and see the bigger picture, rather than focus on just one variable, such as the purchase of a firearm or one visit to a Mosque where a particular Salafist imam preaches violent jihad.

However, these warning behaviors do not predict violence. Officers should not use them as a risk-assessment tool, only as an investigative template. In fact, the rare occurrence of terrorist violence makes its prediction seemingly impossible. But, prevention does not require prediction. The purpose of identifying these behaviors is to detect proximal indicators of concern for law enforcement that can narrow the focus of an investigation, prioritize cases, and help plan a timely risk-management intervention.

WARNING BEHAVIORS

Pathway

Subjects engage in various behaviors that encompass part of research, planning, or preparation for a terrorist act or implementation of such an attack.5

On June 5, 1968, on the first anniversary of the Six Day War, Sirhan Sirhan carried out the meticulously planned assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. After months of preparation, he conducted the attack following Kennedy’s vote to sell 50 Phantom jet fighter-bombers to Israel in January 1968. Although not Muslim Sirhan identified closely with the Palestinians and viewed Kennedy’s vote as a betrayal of his people.6

In the 5 months leading up to the date, he secured a .22-caliber revolver, practiced at a shooting range, made at least four approaches—perhaps failed attempts or efforts to see how close he could get—to Kennedy in a public venue and, finally, shot him multiple times while hiding in the pantry at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, as Kennedy walked past him.7 There were 77 people in the pantry at the time, but there also was no U.S. Secret Service policy in place to protect aspiring presidential candidates until after this assassination.8

Fixation

Certain behaviors indicate someone’s increasingly pathological preoccupation with a person or cause.9 There is an accompanying deterioration in relationships or occupational performance.

Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army major who conducted a mass murder at Ft. Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, became increasingly fixated by his belief that the United States was at war with Islam. During his residency and fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he openly articulated his beliefs to other psychiatric residents, fellows, and supervisors.10 Hasan gave two presentations entitled “The Koranic Worldview as It Relates to Muslims in the Military” and “Why the War on Terror Is a War on Islam.”11

In the months preceding the killings, the fixation continued with efforts to avoid deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan by retaining an attorney; he also communicated via e-mail with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American spiritual sanctioner and recruiter for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen.12 He inquired whether killing American soldiers and officers was a religiously legitimate act.13 The arguing and preaching stopped during this period, but clandestine operational planning likely continued.14 His fixation was a cause, but also was deeply personal because his grievance against the wars in the Middle East went unheeded.15

Identification

Persons have a psychological desire to be a “pseudocommando” or have a “warrior mentality.” This includes closely associating with weapons or other military or law enforcement paraphernalia, identifying with previous attackers or assassins, or proclaiming themselves as agents to advance a particular cause or belief system.16

Anders Breivik carried out the July 22, 2011, bombings on several Norwegian government buildings and, within hours, killed another 69 people—mostly adolescents—on the island of Utoya. He identified himself as a contemporary reincarnation of the Knights Templar, the militant spear of the 12th-century Christian Crusades against the Muslims.17

Breivik designed homemade uniforms, emblematic of his identification, to wear in photographs and also found an affinity for U.S. terrorists Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh.18 He plagiarized the writings of Kaczynski in his own “2083—A European Declaration of Independence” and wrote that McVeigh probably felt as he did while constructing his bombs.19 Breivik considered himself a soldier fighting to free his people from multiculturalism and the Islamic immigration into Europe.20

Novel Aggression

For the first time, subjects commit an act of violence that appears unrelated to any pathway behavior. They do so to test their ability to become violent.


On October 22, 2014, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau murdered Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier, and injured three others. Then, he attacked the Canadian Parliament, wherein he was killed by law enforcement. Three years earlier, in December 2011, he had walked into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) field office in Burnaby, British Columbia, and said he wanted to be arrested for an armed robbery he committed a decade earlier; no such recorded crime existed.21 The next night, he tried to rob a McDonald’s restaurant with a pencil, then waited for the police to arrive.22 He told them, “I’m a crack addict and at the same time a religious person, and I want to sacrifice freedom and good things for a year maybe, so when I come out I’ll appreciate things in life more and be clean.”23

Energy Burst

An increase in the frequency or variety of noted activities—even if relatively innocuous—related to the target occurs, usually in the hours or days before the attack.

On January 8, 2011, in Tucson, Arizona, Jared Loughner tried to assassinate U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and committed mass murder.24 In the 12 hours before the attack, beginning before midnight, he dropped off a roll of 35-mm film to be developed at a local drug store and later picked up the photos, checked into a motel, and intermittently searched the Internet, using the key words “assassin” and “lethal injection.”25 He left a telephone message for a friend and, at 4:12 a.m., posted to his social media page a photo of his Glock pistol with the words “goodbye friends….”26

At 7:27 a.m., he visited two department stores and purchased 9-mm full metal jacket ammunition and a diaper bag.27 Later, police stopped him for running a red light; he was released with a warning after crying and apologizing.28 Loughner went home, then ran away from his father when confronted.29 He returned to a department store, then took a cab to the shopping center where Congresswoman Giffords was speaking, insisting on getting correct change for the cab driver because he only had a $20 bill.30 A few minutes later at 10:10 a.m., he opened fire, killing 6 people and wounding 13. He had taken the time to put his driver’s license, credit card, and money in a small plastic baggie.31

Leakage

When planning to harm a target through an attack, persons communicate such intent to a third party.32


On August 8, 2014, Abdurasul Juraboev, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, and a citizen of Uzbekistan, wrote on a website, “Greetings! I am in U.S. right now, but we don’t have any arms. But, is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? What I’m saying is to shoot Obama and get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels.”33 In February 2015 he was indicted with two other individuals and currently awaits federal prosecution for attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).34

Last Resort

Subjects demonstrate through word or deed a violent action or time imperative or display increasing desperation or distress.35 To such individuals, there is no alternative other than violence, and the consequences are justified.

On June 17, 2015, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof committed mass murder at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He killed nine African-Americans during a Bible study meeting, including the senior pastor and Senator Clementa Pinckney, and wounded several others.

Days after the shooting, his website, The Last Rhodesian, was discovered, including a manifesto.36 Roof had written, “I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the Internet. Well, someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”37

Directly Communicated Threat

Individuals communicate a direct threat to the target or law enforcement before a violent action.


On December 11, 2010, Taimour al-Abdaly, a 28-year-old Iraqi Sunni living in Sweden since age 10, carried out a car bombing and then prematurely detonated his own suicide vest in downtown Stockholm, killing no one else. He sent an audiotaped message in several different languages to Swedish broadcast media shortly before his targeted violence.

"You have Lars Vilks—the pig Lars Vilks—to blame, and yourselves for these actions. Your quietness for the painting and your support for your soldiers, now understand, brought you to this unpleasant situation.

The Islamic state, may Allah protect it, and its people have now begun to fulfill its promises. And do know one thing: we are not—we are not a lie or imagination, we are for real and do now exist among you, Europeans. So stop your drawings and—stop your drawings of our prophet Muhammad [Arabic], withdraw your soldiers from Afghanistan and no more oppression against Islam or Muslims will be tolerated in any way or any means.

Last but not least, I say to all mujahedeen: please do not forgive [sic] me in your prayers, may Allah accept me as a martyr and my request from you is to pray [Arabic phrase] for me as the Muslims are so humiliated here in Sweden and other places in Europe that they sometimes pray for non-Muslims. And to all hidden mujahedeen in Europe, and especially in Sweden: it’s now the time to strike, even if you only have a knife to strike with, and I do know you that have more than that."38

INVESTIGATIVE USEFULNESS

Although these warning behaviors appear to be proximal indicators of accelerating risk in individual terrorists, further scientific testing is necessary. Some efforts already have begun. In a small study comparing German school shooters with other students of concern, five of the warning behaviors—pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, and last resort—significantly discriminated the shooters from the other students who had no intent to act.39 These differences showed a large effect size, indicating a strong relationship between the shooter’s violence and the five warning behaviors. Recent research has demonstrated striking similarities between individual terrorists, mass murderers, and active shooters.40

In two other studies, the Swedish Defence Research Agency recommended and outlined a method to employ three of the warning behaviors—fixation, identification, and leakage—to potentially identify “lone wolves” through the use of forensic linguistic analysis and data mining on the Internet.41 The warning behaviors also appear to have ecological validity—a real-world fit—across several different domains of targeted violence perpetrators, including German school shooters, German and American public figure attackers or assassins, and spousal homicide malefactors.42

The author and his colleagues are in the process of analyzing data concerning individual terrorists—religious and secular motivations—in North America and Europe. In a study of 22 European terrorists, five warning behaviors (pathway, fixation, identification, energy burst, and last resort) were found in more than 90 percent of the cases. In another larger study of 111 lone-actor terrorists in the United States and Europe, pathway, fixation, identification, and leakage were present in 77 to 96 percent of all subjects. Such efforts will demonstrate whether these behaviors have value as part of an instrument for risk-assessment efforts.

CONCLUSION

These proximal warning behaviors can be used to make decisions concerning whether a case should be monitored or mitigated for risk management. The absence of all warning behaviors following a detailed investigation—always remembering that insufficient information does not mean absent information—would suggest that monitoring and intelligence gathering continue, but that active risk management for targeted violence is unnecessary. The presence of one warning behavior could indicate that active risk management should be pursued and specific interventions developed within the fact pattern of the individual case. Although these warning behaviors were developed to identify indicators for targeted violence, they appear to complement specific interactive patterns recently promulgated by the National Counterterrorism Center concerning ISIL- or al Qaeda-inspired violence and can function best as another investigative tool as further operational research accumulates.43

For additional information the author may be contacted at reidmeloy@gmail.com.

Dr. Meloy is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and a consulting forensic psychologist to the FBI.

Note because its length made it to large to post (including the Large Post forum) I deleted the endnotes. They can be found in the original article by clicking on the link.


Link
 
Retired AF Guy said:
While surfing the internet came upon this FBI report about identifying individual terrorists and while it is four years old, I still thought some people might be interesting. And because the author uses both Islamic and non-Islamic terrorists as examples, I decided to post it here rather then over in the Islamic terrorist forum. 

Note because its length made it to large to post (including the Large Post forum) I deleted the endnotes. They can be found in the original article by clicking on the link.


Link

Interesting and useful. Thank you.
 
In the photo of Madison Square Garden which was posted by Blackadder, there are two banners hung both sides of the stage. Can anyone read just exactly what they say?
The reason for wanting to know is because it just may ring a few bells on a similarity to Trump's agenda. Or maybe not?

.... Americans ..... ... the free America

and

... .... ....... of Christian America
 
Donald H said:
In the photo of Madison Square Garden which was posted by Blackadder, there are two banners hung both sides of the stage. Can anyone read just exactly what they say?
The reason for wanting to know is because it just may ring a few bells on a similarity to Trump's agenda. Or maybe not?

.... Americans ..... ... the free America

and

... .... ....... of Christian America

The one on the left says "Read America's Fearless Press "The Free American"" an ad for the American Bund propaganda rag. It stopped publishing on December 11th 1941, things got kind of hot for them about that time.
The one on the right reads "Stop Jewish Domination Of Christian Americans!"
Do with that info what you will.
 
kkwd said:
The one on the left says "Read America's Fearless Press "The Free American"" an ad for the American Bund propaganda rag. It stopped publishing on December 11th 1941, things got kind of hot for them about that time.
The one on the right reads "Stop Jewish Domination Of Christian Americans!"
Do with that info what you will.

Thanks for that kkwd! Were you able to read them or were you familiar with the slogans?

So I'll give it some thought, but offhand "Stop Jewish Domination Of Christian Americans!", rings the bell for me.


"Stop Immigrant Domination of Christian Americans!"

I think I may not be able to do anything with the other one without reading their ad. If you have it, it would be appreciated. 
 
3 years is a way too light of a sentence with what's been described:

'Antifa hunter' gets 3 years for online racist threats

https://apnews.com/bae21d9b066e5469c0a914a283a0235b
 
OceanBonfire said:
3 years is a way too light of a sentence with what's been described:
In Canada he'd get three months and have to attend a program.
 
White nationalism/supremacy is resurging and now among the biggest threats:

White nationalism upsurge in U.S. echoes historical pattern, say scholars

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-extremism-analysis/white-nationalism-upsurge-in-u-s-echoes-historical-pattern-say-scholars-idUSKBN25V2QH

DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/04/white-supremacists-terror-threat-dhs-409236
 
shawn5o said:
How an overload of riot porn is driving conflict in the streets
Weak organization forced right-wing agitators to rely on video and social media.

Joan Donovan
September 3, 2020
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007931/riot-porn-right-wing-vigilante-propaganda-social-media/

This is in the news today. "Media bias"? Readers can form their own opinions.

"White supremacy is 'most lethal threat' to the US, DHS says",
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=641&sxsrf=ALeKk01quEY60ugzIp611JqUJy5DNQTgWg%3A1599612965869&ei=JShYX7nKNPmsytMPsaqL4Ak&q=%22most+lethal+threat%22&oq=%22most+lethal+threat%22&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAE6BAgjECc6BQgAEJECOgQIABBDOgUIABCxAzoICAAQsQMQgwE6AggAOgYIABAWEB46BwghEAoQoAFQ5F5Y5YwBYIeQAWgAcAB4AIABnAGIAZsTkgEEMy4xN5gBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwj58O7U7trrAhV5lnIEHTHVApwQ4dUDCAw&uact=5#spf=1599612987805
 
mariomike said:
This is in the news today. "Media bias"? Readers can form their own opinions.

"White supremacy is 'most lethal threat' to the US, DHS says",
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280&bih=641&sxsrf=ALeKk01quEY60ugzIp611JqUJy5DNQTgWg%3A1599612965869&ei=JShYX7nKNPmsytMPsaqL4Ak&q=%22most+lethal+threat%22&oq=%22most+lethal+threat%22&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAE6BAgjECc6BQgAEJECOgQIABBDOgUIABCxAzoICAAQsQMQgwE6AggAOgYIABAWEB46BwghEAoQoAFQ5F5Y5YwBYIeQAWgAcAB4AIABnAGIAZsTkgEEMy4xN5gBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwj58O7U7trrAhV5lnIEHTHVApwQ4dUDCAw&uact=5#spf=1599612987805
Do you personally endorse the 24,000 links presented in your post? The second one is revolt.tv, never heard of it, is it reliable? Another is hollywoodunlocked.com, a trusted source? I found more dealing with a site selling face masks called https://www.motorcyclegearexpress.com/face-mask-lethal-threat-girl-skull.html, but the mask has a snazzy name, Face Mask - Lethal Threat Girl Skull.
 
kkwd said:
Do you personally endorse the 24,000 links presented in your post?

I endorse nothing. Don't want to be accused of posting "Fake News - Enemy of the People".  :)
 
mariomike said:
I endorse nothing. Don't want to be accused of posting "Fake News - Enemy of the People".  :)
That's OK, that a specialty of the first link in your post, CNN. The Most Trusted Name In News. I spit coffee all over my keyboard when I read that and I don't even drink coffee.  :rofl:
 
kkwd said:
That's OK, that a specialty of the first link in your post, CNN. The Most Trusted Name In News.

Isn't that what they chant at their rallies, "CNN Sucks!"  :rofl:






 
Simply not condemning says a lot:

Proud Boys are "emboldened" by President Trump's language, former member says

...

"When you hear the president of the United States saying things like that they should ... stand by, that type of signaling to be ready for violent clashes does nothing but empower hate groups," said Charlottesville Police Chief Dr. Rashall Brackney.

...


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proud-boys-trump-stand-back-stand-by-emboldened/
 
OceanBonfire said:
Simply not condemning says a lot:


Wallace: — but are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacist and militia groups —
Trump: Sure
Wallace: — and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland?
Trump: Sure, I’m willing to do that but —

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-condemn-white-supremacists/
 
Meanwhile, at the Department of Homeland Security....


DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat

The documents are slightly different drafts of the same annual threat assessment, which is not yet published.

White supremacists present the gravest terror threat to the United States, according to a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security.

Two later draft versions of the same document — all of which were reviewed by POLITICO — describe the threat from white supremacists in slightly different language. But all three drafts describe the threat from white supremacists as the deadliest domestic terror threat facing the U.S., listed above the immediate danger from foreign terrorist groups.

“Foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for Homeland attacks but probably will remain constrained in their ability to direct such plots over the next year,” all three documents say.


Russia “probably will be the primary covert foreign influence actor and purveyor of disinformation and misinformation in the Homeland,” the documents also say.

Former acting DHS Sec. Kevin McAleenan last year directed the department to start producing annual homeland threat assessments. POLITICO reviewed three drafts of this year’s report — titled DHS’s State of the Homeland Threat Assessment 2020 — all of which were produced in August. Ben Wittes, the editor in chief of the national security site Lawfare, obtained the documents and shared them with POLITICO. The first such assessment has not been released publicly, and a DHS spokesperson declined to comment on “allegedly leaked documents,” and on when the document will be made public.

None of the drafts POLITICO reviewed referred to a threat from Antifa, the loose cohort of militant left-leaning agitators who senior Trump administration officials have described as domestic terrorists. Two of the drafts refer to extremists trying to exploit the “social grievances” driving lawful protests.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/04/white-supremacists-terror-threat-dhs-409236
 
Michigan governor kidnap plot material moved to stand-alone thread here:
https://milnet.ca/forums/threads/133096/post-1631265

Milnet.ca Staff
 
With the Proud Boys emboldened by Trump, they and the alt-rights are trying to join any work related to elections:

Neo-Nazi and Proud Boys groups push Trump campaign poll watching operation online: Reports

Officials in multiple states are taking aggressive steps to protect voters from efforts by militias or other armed groups seeking to congregate near polling places on Election Day, as simmering online activity indicates that some groups are trying to register as campaign poll watchers for Donald Trump's campaign.

In Michigan, an open carry state, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Friday announced a ban on open carry firearms at and near polls.

...

The measures come as online accounts tied to neo-Nazi sympathizers and "alt-right" groups such as the Proud Boys have been generating posts that encourage supporters to join the campaign's Election Day operations, according to two new reports this week. That includes sending out links to poll-watching registration sites for the Trump campaign's so-called Army for Trump, an effort working to recruit thousands of supports to sign up as poll watchers for the campaign on Election Day.

In one instance, a Proud Boys-affiliated user, in a group that claimed to circulate to 1,800 people affiliated with the Proud Boys, shared the link to sign up, writing that Democrats "don't want us Republicans to be in their polls," according to the report from SITE Intelligence Group, a non-governmental agency group that tracks potential security threats online, that was released on Tuesday. A separate SITE report released on Thursday said a link was shared within a neo-Nazi channel that claims to have about 5,000 members.

...


https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/neo-nazi-proud-boys-groups-push-trump-campaign/story?id=73663331
 
Uh oh....

More Americans Supported Hitler Than You May Think. Here's Why One Expert Thinks That History Isn't Better Known

“They weren’t trying to push the U.S. into an alliance with Nazi Germany. They see that as outlandish, though they would have loved it. What they want to do is confuse American public opinion. That’s what we’re seeing coming back in the era of social media,” he explains. “Confusion means there’s no public will to do anything and in a democracy we rely on the public will to take action.”

But perhaps the biggest reason why it’s possible for the U.S. to have forgotten about this history is that its worst potential — a sympathetic politician reaching the highest levels of power on an isolationist platform — was never realized.

https://time.com/5414055/american-nazi-sympathy-book/
 
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