From the Past, a Chilling Warning About the Extremists of the Present

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

They robbed an armored car outside a sprawling Seattle shopping mall.

They bombed a synagogue in Boise, Idaho, and within weeks assassinated a Jewish talk radio host in Denver.

Then a month later, they plundered another armored car on a California highway in a spectacular daylight heist that netted more than $3.6 million.

What initially seemed to F.B.I. agents like distant, disparate crimes turned out to be the opening salvos in a war against the federal government by members of a violent extremist group called the Order, who sought to establish a whites-only homeland out West.

Their crime spree played out in 1984. Fast forward to 2021. Federal agents and prosecutors who dismantled the Order see troubling echoes of its threat to democracy in the Capitol riot and the growing extremist activity across the country.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/from-the-past-a-chilling-warning-about-the-extremists-of-the-present/ar-BB1gfMmc

I remembers these guys. One of them, Robert Mathews, died in a shootout with the FBI on Whidbey Island where I grew up.

[dewsgirl]

1. Rachel covered the armored car robbery a couple years ago

I can't remember why though.

[ZZenith]

2. Alan Berg was a good man.

[TexasBushwhacker]

4. Yeah, I had forgotten about all that

It makes me want to watch Talk Radio again.

[Ferryboat]

3. The site of the shootout has turned into a shrine/pilgrimage

For those on the far right.

[Volaris]

5. Because of course it has. That's how dumb they are;

They revere as martyrs the fools who think they should be able to commit crimes and pick fights with the federal government, oh and then when the government does what its gonna do, ITS THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT those fools are dead.

I get why Obama wanted as peaceful a resolution as possible in Oregon. But theres an argument to be made that the if you're gonna draw guns on the federal government, that should end only ONE way. Because how dare you and who the fuck do you think you are?

I'm tired of coddling these Soverign Citizen jackoffs, who think that the definition of tyranny is 'I got outvoted.'.

[calimary]

10. VERY good way to put it, Volaris!

"I'm tired of coddling these Soverign Citizen jackoffs, who think that the definition of tyranny is 'I got outvoted.'."

Yep. That's what THEY think is "tyranny."

They're starting to remind me, more and more, of a group of VERY spoiled children who face no discipline, no consequences, and irrational parental coddling and excuse-making. And that's how they grow up, and that's their takeaway going into adulthood. And now they feel their "free" to act out in any antisocial and even harmful way they damn well feel like. Because "their rights" or something. Because (what we call) "their freedom-freedom" or something.

Years ago, we watched a TV series starring Jeff Daniels, based in a fictional TV network, during a scene featuring a live talk show, one of those typical he said/she said arrangements. The conservative guy was asked what he loved best about America, and he smugly responded "Freedom!" (pause) "and Freedom!" And for some reason, that stuck. We started referring to that right-wing canard as "freedom-freedom" and that's what we've called it, ever since. Uh-oh... here comes Ted Cruz/Ron Johnson/ASSa Hutchinson/Ron DeSantis/Mike Pence/Mitch McConnell/Greg Abbott/(fill in the blank here with some republi-CON's name) again - yowling about their "freedom/freedom!"

[Volaris]

11. HBOs The Newsroom

That segment was the best 20 minutes of television in 20 years.

'The first step in solving any problem, is admitting that there IS one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.'

[calimary]

13. I do believe that's it! Thanks, Volaris!

Yep. The AA mantra stands like the figures on Mount Rushmore. "First you've got to admit you have a problem."

[Mr.Bill]

6. I read a book about that group years ago.

The armored car robbery in California happened just a few miles from where I now live. During that robbery one of them dropped a hand gun in the armored car and forgot to pick it up. It was registered to him, and eventually that's how they tracked them down.

This is one of the reasons why we register guns.

[BlueNProud]

7. Now these types have open support from GOP elected leaders everywhere in America

and in law enforcement and military.

[ck4829]

8. The "just don't talk politics around them"-type people are the GOP's base now

[Volaris]

12. My expierence is because they keep losing those arguments in bars,

And so they would rather just zone out, watch the game and drink their horse-piss beer.

Which always seemed odd to me, as my understanding is we built a whole damn rebellion against Britain that started with political conversations IN PUBS.

Not sure what happened, but NOT discussing philosophy, faith, and self governance in places where people actually gather socially seems...I dunno, anti-American, somehow.

[Strelnikov_]

9. Killed a Missouri State Trooper

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-21-mn-13172-story.html

David C. Tate, a reputed member of a neo-Nazi group sought in the fatal shooting of a state trooper, was captured Saturday, police said. Tate, 22, linked to the neo-Nazi group called The Order and charged with first-degree murder in the trooper’s death at a random traffic stop last Monday, was identified within hours of his arrest, said Capt. Lee Thompson of the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Hundreds of police officers using helicopters, dogs and roadblocks had searched the rugged Ozark Mountains on both sides of the Arkansas-Missouri border since the trooper was killed. On Monday, Tate, of Athol, Ida., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle on racketeering and conspiracy charges along with 22 other associates of The Order. He was charged with dealing in stolen property and participating in the killing of a member of The Order who vanished in May.

. . .

The Order is a violent offshoot of the Idaho-based Aryan Nations, which is closely tied to such anti-Jewish and anti-black groups as the Ku Klux Klan and the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA). Meanwhile, in the Ozarks near Three Brothers, Ark., 70 law officers maintained a vigil outside a CSA camp just south of the Missouri border, waiting for the surrender of a man described as the survivalist group’s spiritual leader.

Jim Ellison, 44, is charged with felony conspiracy to manufacture, possess and transfer automatic firearms and silencers.