Oregon leads U.S. in armed militia interest, is breeding ground for 'FEMA concentration camps'

[CentralMass]

conspiracy theory: report

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2021/02/oregon-leads-us-in-armed-militia-interest-is-breeding-ground-for-fema-concentration-camps-conspiracy-theory-report.html
"In the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Oregon led all states in per-capita internet searches for “armed groups” and conspiracy theories.

This data comes from Moonshot CVE, an anti-extremism tech company that, from September to December 2020, tracked internet disinformation and threats of violence that were linked to the U.S. presidential election.

The results don’t surprise University of Oregon political-science professor Joseph Lowndes, who studies populism, racial politics and far-right groups.

“Oregon has seen a convergence of strong QAnon support, an active paramilitary milieu and, in Portland, Patriot Prayer,” he says.

He points out that the state has been a longtime home to right-wing militia activity, spurred years ago by the reduction in federal timber payments as well as increasingly limited government services in some rural areas.

“Militias moved in to take up some of that work, to act as first responders,” he says"