The Militia and the Mole

[system1]

Originally published at: The Militia and the Mole - TPM – Talking Points Memo

This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. John Williams kept a backpack filled with everything he’d need to go on the run: three pairs of socks; a few hundred dollars cash; makeshift disguises…

[tindalos]

@system1

Williams told me, when militias like the Oath Keepers conspired to violently overturn the 2020 presidential election. He believed democracy was under siege from groups the FBI has said pose a major domestic terrorism threat. So he infiltrated the militia movement on spec, as a freelance vigilante. He did not tell the police or the FBI. A loner, he did not tell his family or friends.

So a real patriot, properly opposed to the faux-kind, and also properly paranoid because, as he confirmed, law enforcement could be allied with the enemy.

PS: this story is another reason why Propublica remains a national treasure; continuing the task that much of legacy media has effectively abandoned.

[john_adams]

This is the kind of hero we need. Every middle-aged white guy is privy to information others can’t get. If we overhear something, pretend like we’re sympathetic. Find out whatever you can. We need to quietly rat these motherfuckers out…and stomp them out.

[fiftygigs]

Every time militia members make a phone call, attend a meeting or go to a gun range together, he wants them “to be thinking, in the back of their heads, ‘This guy will betray me.’”

The truth is hard to hear, but you will be betrayed.

The truth is your entire organization was founded on betrayal, is based on betrayal. It’s a power Ponzi scheme, similar to Bannon’s “Help Us Build A Wall, Brother” fraud only he just wanted a few million easy bucks.

[lynndee]

Well, not every middle-aged white guy is privy to the level of information described here. But, if you have the kind of background and experience this guy had, consider the possibilities.

[lynndee]

Head-spinning.

[iamsmall]

This is why I keep sending money to Propublica every year.

[dont]

we sent some this Christmas and intent to make it a yearly gift.
they so great work.

[fgs]

This strikingly illustrates by contrast how completely legacy media have abdicated the craft of journalism. I’m struggling to imagine what mainstream venue would even attempt such a piece.

[john_adams]

My point is, people open their yaps more when they think they’re in a safe space. The again, what would one do with said information? Report it to the police, then somehow end up shot at a traffic stop? I see the danger…

[gr]

Deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but he’ll die in obscurity.

[travelingprincess]

Yes, yes, yes. MSM is a farce to some degree. They aren’t serious because their pocketbook is involved. Now let’s hope these dirty cops/mayors/attorneys in gov’t get their comeuppance.

[playitagainrowlf]

@travelingprincess

MSM is a farce to some degree. They aren’t serious because their pocketbook is involved.

This fired the neurons in my brain that are now permanently wired to the thought that “What’s wrong with the U.S. today is that we’ve lost the idea that if you benefit from the system, you owe something back to the system”.

In other words, if I have a company that benefits from paved roads, working communications infrastructure, the legal system, our military defense, etc then I owe something back to the citizens who collectively are providing all those benefits. If I am able to live out in the middle of nowhere, then I’m actually benefiting from all those same things, so I owe something back to those same citizens for the same reasons. Today’s “Selfishness is a Virtue!” types who are ignoring this are doing far, far more damage to themselves (and the rest of us) than the seem even capable of imagining…