A church in Missouri posted an ad on its website earlier this month calling "all young men" between the ages of 18–29 "to form a militia." But after "anguish" from the community, the Ascension Catholic Church has since apologized for the "mistake." — Read the rest

Facebook supposely bans militias, but they're there all the same, reports Wired's Tess Owen—and using the plaform to coordinate their activities.

"Join Your Local Militia or III% Patriot Group," a post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army.

Hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers, including police chiefs, are on a list of members of the far-right "Oath Keepers" militia published by the Anti-Defamation League—a list that also includes elected politicians, serving military and other officials.

The Associated Press reports:

The data raises fresh concerns about the presence of extremists in law enforcement and the military who are tasked with enforcing laws and protecting the U.S.

Reports are circulating late Monday of U.S. air strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Three explosions reported.

"Reports of a US strike on Iran-aligned groups in Iraq are coming in after three explosions were heard in Jurf Sakhar southwest of Baghdad, a major Ketaib Hezbollah stronghold and sanctuary," tweeted the Brookings Institute's Ranj Alaaldin, adding, "Media accounts linked to Iran's proxies have reported fatalities." — Read the rest

President Donald Trump's son stars in this new "defend your ballot" ad, and says: "We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump's election security operation…we need you to help us watch them."

Holy shit.

I mean, what else does one even say about these insane nwq Trump-Pence ads, and the curiously addled Don Jr., — Read the rest

Heavily armed men in camouflage have set up at least two roadblocks in Oregon's wildfire-raged Multnomah county, reports The Guardian. Drivers who were stopped said the vigilantes asked them for identification and questioned their reasons for travel. Some drivers reported that police were on the scene allowed the vigilantes to conduct the illegal traffic stops. — Read the rest

In Georgia, the City of Stone Mountain is shutting down public transportation, closing a park, and urging everyone to avoid the area on Saturday, when a large number of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and militia members plan to gather.

Why?

Located in suburban Atlanta, Stone Mountain Park is home to a giant sculpture of Confederate heroes. — Read the rest

Attending todays Trump Minneapolis rally sounds like a really scary time.

City Pages:

So Republicans will be escorted to and from their cars. That duty will fall to Oath Keepers, a "patriot" group whose members fancy themselves as "guardians of the republic."

"Why are we just apprehending them (…) not lining them up and shooting them? We have to go back to Hitler days and put them all in a gas chamber."

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Remember that US-Mexico border white supremacist terrorist group that published videos of members detaining hundreds migrants at gunpoint, with the Border Patrol's apparent tacit consent? — Read the rest

The apparent leader of a gang of white supremacists who terrorized immigrants along the US-Mexico border, holding hundreds of them at gunpoint, has been attacked in jail and reportedly received non-life-threatening injuries, say authorities.

“If these people follow our verbal commands, we hold them until Border Patrol comes. Border Patrol has never asked us to stand down.”

The first time I encountered Matteo Pizzolo, Amancay Nahuelpan and Tyler Boss's comic Calexit, I was skeptical: California separating from the USA is an incredibly stupid idea, predicated on innumerable misconceptions (including the idea that the state that gave us Nixon, Reagan, and Schwarzenegger is uniformly progressive, and also the idea that "the world's sixth largest economy" wouldn't radically contract the instant it lost access to the rest of the country, including the Atlantic Ocean). — Read the rest

U.S. military intelligence analysis documents obtained by Newsweek reveal that defense officials do not believe there are terrorists or other national security threats present within the so-called "migrant caravan." Despite this, Trump has demanded that up to 15,000 military troops be dispatched to the border, to brace for an "invasion" that doesn't exist, just before the midterm elections.

Mexico's corrupt, failing government that covers up official mass murders by attacking journalists and dissidents with cyberweapons is locked in a stalemate with the country's horrific, mass-murdering gangs, and the Mexican people are caught in the crossfire.

As part of Vice's new video series, Hysteria, which examines mass social panics in the U.S., here's a 20-minute documentary about the Georgia III% Security Force — "one of America's right-wing, pro-Trump, anti-terror militias."

Vice went to Atlanta to join Chris Hill — a.k.a

Less than a year after Ammon Bundy and his terrorist pals were found not guilty for their takeover of Oregon's Malheur Federal Wildlife Reserve (which included a fatal shootout four terrorist pals of Cliven Bundy have been exonerated by a Nevada jury for their 2014 standoff in which they insisted — at gunpoint — on the right to graze their private cattle on public lands. — Read the rest

A 2014 survey of 175 US law enforcement agencies found that they ranked "sovereign citizens" as the top domestic terror threat, and with good reason: members of the heavily armed, white-supremacist-adjacent movement regularly kill cops during routine traffic stops and other interactions.

The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab (previously) is one of the world's leading research centers for cybersecurity analysis, and they are the first port of call for many civil society groups when they are targeted by governments and cyber-militias.

Shane Bauer, the investigative journalist whose four month stint in a privately run Louisiana prison was one of 2016's most important pieces of journalism, has published a new piece in Mother Jones, this one detailing his time patrolling with the Three Percent United Patriots and other right-wing militias that are preparing for an epic civil war in which the US government will be overthrown and they will be the only citizens of a new country, with everyone else serving as "worker bees…down in the field growing food, gathering wood."

Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the armed militia that took over a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon last January, says he needs Internet access. His brother Ryan, also in jail, is upset that he can't bear arms while he is in jail awaiting trial.