I bet their watchlist is like my streaming video watchlist these days. Endless new content week after week and meanwhile there’s a bunch of stuff I added to my list in 2012 but still haven’t got around to yet.
10 Likes
Hate to break it to you, but right-wing terrorism has long been a big thing in the USA. For what was the KKK but domestic right-wing terrorists. The uniforms have changed from white sheets, to tacti-cool, and now this weird obsession with polo’s and khaki’s or whatever they were wearing, but they’ve been here a long time. The only difference is that these days we’re exporting it to other nations.
16 Likes
Well, the blue part of our state tends to be closer to the coast (except Del Norte county) but it’s also includes everything south of the Tehachapis plus Fresno, Inyo, Mono Counties. Of the 25 largest cities in CA, 23 are blue. I’d say that it’s more than a few cites.
I can’t say if the alt-right guys are all from the rural areas in CA or if they’re just hiding in plain sight in the cities. In my own very blue city there’s a whackadoodle who lives nearby on well-traveled road. He still has his property decked out with Trump and “Let’s Go Brandon” flags. 
Although he strikes me as someone who flies the flags as a giant Fuck You to his blue city and neighbors, one never knows how far he may go.
12 Likes
You’re right, they aren’t quite smart enough to play that game.
6 Likes
Both when it comes to individuals. However, the fascist and white supremacist groups that cause the high-profile disturbances are concentrated in certain areas. They include rural places like the state’s northernmost counties (esp. where you find lots of “State of Jefferson” flags), but also small economically depressed cities in SoCal like Bakersfield and affluent coastal towns like Newport Beach.
There are anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups everywhere in the state, including lots of areas where Dems regularly win. We also have to remember that more people in this one “blue” state voted for Biff than in several other (and red) states combined.
10 Likes
And I just saw this from yesterday
17 Likes
Most amazing thing about this story was they actually have Pride events in Idaho. Who knew?
6 Likes
Holding a pride celebration in Idaho is counting coup. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to do it, but I’m glad someone is. The darkest corners need the most light.
18 Likes
The nazi skins in my hometown did a lot of recruiting among the punks - one of their first lines was always “we don’t actually believe this stuff but you have to say it to prove your loyalty”. I’ve had the same arguments aimed at me about joining the army - basically “if you toe the racist and/or misogynist line, the other members will be your friend.” It is a powerful recruiting tactic. On the other hand, not being true believers didn’t seem to stop them from taking part in some pretty nasty violence. No excuses.
10 Likes
Maybe both, but the latter is definitely true. I lived in Los Angeles for many years and I saw a lot of bumper stickers for Trump, Oath Keepers, 3%ers, InfoWars, thin blue line flags, etc. in my neighbourhood. There were also two houses in my neighbourhood with Gadsden flags and those “come and take it” AR-15 flags. There are a lot of smaller dog whistles as well. If you see a brodozer with two huge US flags on poles in the bed driving to work every day, you can guess who he votes for.
10 Likes
Friggin’ Coronado.
5 Likes
Remind me - do domestic terrorists like this get automatically added to the “no-fly” list?
6 Likes
A lot of these people believe they are “supporting law enforcement” during these actions. There are squads of violent fascists who show up to Black Lives Matter protests to “help police keep order”. Police don’t know what to do with them, but they are rarely arrested.
5 Likes
I tried to do a search to find out if anybody was discussing how the white neck gaiters they were all wearing to hide their proud white faces were similar to the yellow face coverings seen on Police in the Watchmen teevee series.
Do not, if you want to sleep tonight, replicate this search.
8 Likes
Personally I think they stole it from Inside Man. Not a political symbol as much as their normal tactic of appropriating whatever they want, from tiki torches to Hawaiian shirts.
6 Likes
A terrific film, no question, but I just don’t think that these people take their cues from Spike Lee joints where people commit a crime against a fascist profiteer and get away with it while a black policeman secretly benefits. 
10 Likes
They’re not the most self aware of populations…
10 Likes
I think the gaiters are just part of their “uniform” of Navy top, Khaki pants (shit, I wore that all the time working retail jobs in college) khaki hat, and white gaiter. The gaiter I think in the police photo was the face covering used during protests during Covid. These guys are wearing them to keep from being easily IDed. I suspect the color is because they are, you know, white supremacists.
These were the same schmucks who did a short protest in DC, and you had blue checks calling them Feds.
3 Likes
Yeah, their “tactical” trooz weren’t much help after all.
4 Likes
The misdemeanor charge gets them booked and fingerprinted. Then they can look for outstanding warrants and start linking them to other incidents and groups.
10 Likes
