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Weekly: 11 Jan 2021


The last week has been a big one, to say the least! Here’s a weekly update covering some of the following, in very broad strokes:

  • The storming of the US Capitol Building
  • Militias and other militant far-right groups show at multiple state capitol buildings
  • Social media platform revolt

You’ve likely already read a lot of this, given how high up in the news it’s been this past week, so this one is going to be mainly for record-keeping.


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Weekly Update: 4 January 2021


After a brief hiatus to celebrate the holidays away from keeping up with all of this so directly, the weekly update returns with some quick review of the past little bit of time.

Since around 20 December, a lot has happened:

  • Updates on the Rittenhouse trial
  • Charges against a former III% leader
  • III% group indicates they potentially plan to storm capitol building
  • CA police officer under scrutiny over right-wing bumper stickers
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Weekly Update: 21 December 2020


Happy Winter Solstice and (almost) Merry Christmas! This will be the final weekly update for 2020, so Happy New Year, too. Keeping this one a bit minimal, especially as the updates remain a little light this week. Just an update on the Michigan kidnapping case and a couple of readings from around the web.


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Weekly Update: 14 December 2020


A day late here (sorry), but here’s a quick weekly update on the militia world for the week proceeding our current. It includes a conviction for a 2017 militia’s bombing of a mosque, threats against GOP officials in Georgia, a fight in a parking garage in Atlanta, and a few articles to peruse on the Oath Keepers.


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Weekly Update: 7 Dec 2020


Another weekly update with some changes and minor disruptions within the sphere of armed activism.


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Weekly Update: 30 Nov 2020

Super short weekly update this week. Stay tuned for some new articles coming soon to the blog.


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Weekly Update: 23 Nov 2020


A short fifth MW weekly news round-up. Here’s the weekly(ish) update for 23 November 2020.


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Weekly Update: 16 Nov 2020


After a two-week hiatus from weekly updates focusing on some election-related work, a return for the fourth MW weekly news round-up. It’s a long one this week. Here’s the weekly(ish) update for 16 November 2020.


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Weekly Update: 26 Oct 2020


In the third MW weekly news round-up, a roundup of coverage of MilitiaWatch/ACLED’s election violence report, updates on last week’s stories, and some new stories from the week. These new happenings are then related to reading within the MW archives and around the web. Here’s the weekly(ish) update for 26 October 2020.


Norm Olsen, of the notorious Michigan Militia, denounced the Wolverine Watchmen militia’s plot

Olsen now lives in Alaska and started a new, non-Michigan project there years ago. However, he did tell journalists that he was sympathetic to anger against Wolverine Watchmen militia’s target, Michigan Governor Whitmer.


The American Patriot Council, an off-shoot from Michigan re-open protests taken national, looked to hold a 40-location national “Freedom March” series of rallies,

(instead, they held fewer than a dozen)

Ryan Santistevan wrote up a good brief on the organization, available here.


MilitiaWatch + ACLED release risk assessment report

Our report, drawn from data from the past five months, the literature on elections violence, and analysis based on knowledge of right-wing networked violence, we identified five high-risk states and five moderate-risk states. Read the report on ACLED’s site, here. Militia groups covered in the report include the III%, covered extensively here. (Please indulge for a moment, MW rarely gets this sort of coverage)

The report has been covered, for example in:
Local outlets, including:

Other stories:

NPR did a profile of Idaho III%er and GOP State Senate candidate, Eric Parker. Parker was kicked off of Facebook during the summer purges and was highly involved in Bundy Ranch organizing.

Michigan sheriffs/police have indicated they will refuse to enforce bans on guns at polling places this season, despite the alleged planned kidnapping of Michigan’s governor.


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Weekly Update: 19 Oct 2020


In the second MW weekly news round-up, some updates on last week’s stories and some updates on some much older stories, too. These new happenings are then related to reading within the MW archives and around the web. Here’s the weekly(ish) update for 19 October 2020.