Does anyone have any insight as to what is going on here:
A Christian militia group was a target of at least one of a series of weekend raids the FBI conducted in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, a Michigan militia leader says.
The FBI said Sunday that it had conducted raids in the three states, resulting in at least three arrests. Federal warrants were sealed, but a federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of those arrested face gun charges and officials are pursuing other suspects. Some of the suspects were expected in court Monday.
Details seem really scarce for this sort of thing.
pharniel
no clue, it was all over the news saturday night (i live about 3 miles from the ‘command post’ at the wash. co. sherif’s office) and a friend was down the road from one of the raids.
the only notices I can see are from alex jones types on the youtubes, and the comments are all ‘keep your powder dry’ and ‘the revolution begins on a sunday WOLVERINES!”
stuckinred
Nothing specific but they sure went in with overwhelming firepower. Good idea.
Napoleon
Two of the arrest were in Ohio, one in Sandusky (that is where Cedar Point amusement park is) and one in nearby Huron. Both those places are in between Cleveland and Toledo on the lake.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/fbi_arrests_2_in_ohio_militia.html
stuckinred
Wonder if Nugent was there?
pharniel
http://www.toledoonthemove.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=435992
http://www.annarbor.com/news/fbi-conducts-raids-in-washtenaw-lenawee-counties/
basically end times whackjob group..prepaired to fight along side the returned christ…
Doctor Science
Not to mention the mystery of their names/ranks:
As one of the commenters at Language Log says, this sounds more like a “Treehouse” organization than a military one.
mr. whipple
Whackaloons.
pharniel
@stuckinred:
Uncle tedly moved to texas or something because we wouldn’t let him sodomize the bear after putting it into a steel trap or something like that.
El Cid
I think there won’t be too many details until the actual law enforcement forces give details.
On the “ranks”, these idiot militias are basically cos-play for milnerds, and that’s why they’re all full of imaginary high ranking d-bags.
flukebucket
@stuckinred:
If so, they made his pussy purr with a stroke of their hand.
Some Guy
I don’t know, but I am very curious as well. I suspect, and this is not based on any knowledge, just the news reporting everyone else reads, is that no matter what the reason, rightwing extremists will take this as a sign of Obama beginning an end game against freedom.
The timing after the HCR vote and the threats toward legislators creates a context that will simply not be transcended regardless. The moment will decide the meaning I fear.
Then again, maybe there has been the kind of uptick in threats since HCR that made the FBI move. If the bricks and threats are the tip of the iceberg, how knows.
The whole situation with rightwing extremism is so volatile. I am aghast.
El Cid
@Some Guy: Oh, I’m sure today on right wing scream radio it will all by OMG THIS IS OBAMA MARTIAL LAW AGAINST GOOD CHRISTIANS EXERCISING 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO PROTECT MUSLIMS!
pharniel
seems to be a group called Hutaree
the annarbor.com article notes that the SE michigan molitia met with some of them, and told them to turn themselves in.
the Hutaree people said ‘that’s not an option’ and left, and the toledo article notes that local ‘law abiding’ militia’s are cooperating with law enforcement.
which means that these Hutaree guys must be into some really crazy shit or the Feds have got ALOT on the other militias.
stuckinred
@pharniel: It might not have been an option but apparently they went down without a fight. Shock and awwwwwwww
jeffreyw
Pure uniformed speculation, I suspect they were infiltrated by law enforcement. Heard reports they were making and distributing pipe bombs. Probably some full auto conversions to some long guns. What usually tips the Feds to act is either 1) they have the evidence they need to bring in the leaders, 2) they were afraid the “plot” or whatever was nearing the kickoff, or 3) the undercover cops were discovered to be cops and not true blue ‘mericuns.
dmsilev
It’s obviously the Kenyan Usurper clamping down on the Heroic Patriotic Courageous Militias who dared threaten his imposition of Sharia law.
Duh.
-dms
pharniel
additional links
http://www.wxyz.com/mostpopular/story/Massive-Federal-Raid-in-Lenawee-County/eE6ZljBWa0uFOMUdtOLzvw.cspx
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/22978954/detail.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100328/NEWS02/100329720
mr. whipple
That’s actually pretty funny when one militia groups says, ‘those doods are nutz.’
pharniel
@jeffreyw:
It’s how the FBI delt with alot of the crazy back in the 90’s.
Cacti
Since it’s an end-times religious militia…
I’ll go with weapons violations + kiddie diddling
jeffreyw
Subway Blasts Kill Dozens in Moscow
MOSCOW — Female suicide bombers set off huge explosions during rush hour Monday morning in two subway stations in central Moscow, officials said, killing at least 37 people and raising fears that the Muslim insurgency in southern Russia was once again being brought to the country’s heart. More than 100 people were injured.
El Cid
@Cacti: Raids on Catholic Bishops coming up next?
Bob
@Some Guy:
No doubt. At next week’s Tea Party, this will be the topic of the key note address.
stuckinred
Here’s a youtube of em
stuckinred
@El Cid: Not enough evidence!
pharniel
the toledo blade article notes that they were getting ready to blow up mosques, and the wdiv (channel 4, nbc affiliate, ok news) has actual quotes from the mi militia helping the feds.
Cacti
@El Cid:
A RICO indictment for Pope Ratzo should be coming down shortly.
Violet
Hutaree wedding.
Check out their names. What’s that all about?
Slappy White
funny, just last night i was reading the calc risk boards and someone mentioned hutaroo as an example of prime crazy. lo and behold the next day they get raided
pharniel
Also the charges are being unsealed today
Brick Oven Bill
Sun Tzu teaches us that the third dangerous fault in a General is a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults.
What we have here is an Administration that is shaken. We observe it now poking at its political opponents.
Ash Can
The fact that the law enforcement folks aren’t saying much leads me to believe this operation is ongoing, and that more busts are forthcoming. The Chicago Tribune is reporting this morning that someone from northwest Indiana was arrested too. It will be interesting to see where and how this all ends up.
Regardless, though, the wingnuts will be wailing about how this is worse than Waco and Ruby Ridge combined, and that This Means War (TM). It would be comical if these people weren’t as dangerous as they are.
ETA: Looks like BoB got drunk for breakfast again.
Cacti
@pharniel:
A militia was plotting to blow something up?
No way.
pharniel
bob sure does like the pie.
as a side note, here in SE MI the social scene is a bit..incestous.
You’re gonna run into somebody that knows sombody, so to use the MI MIlitia arn’t crazy clenis haters, there someone you know’s grad dad, or uncle or crazy bother…so I guess even in hippieville ann arbor we don’t tend to think of them as a ‘problem’ so much as a great way to keep crazy cousin bobby out of trouble and off the diag preeching the paulian way
stuckinred
Whoa, exercise caution if you go to their message board.
soonergrunt
@Cacti: That’s about right.
This will be just like the90s when those nuts will be pissed off about how the government could’ve left the millenialist kiddie fuckers alone because they weren’t doing anything really wrong.
4tehlulz
BoB’s feeling the heat. How’s it feel to be considered beyond the pale by the fucking Michigan Militia?
Dave Fud
BoB teaches us that stupidity is contagious, and that we should use the pie filter for his comments.
What we have here is a failure to integrate reality with fantasy. These armed cults have nothing on BoB.
Cacti
I think the question that’s really burning everyone’s mind is…
Who is the cult leader, and how many 12 year old concubines does he have?
It’s not really a first rate cult unless the leader gets his pick of the sixth graders.
Ash Can
@jeffreyw: I saw that this morning. That’s awful.
Remember November
American AQ….all we need is the video of them in masks running thru obstacle courses.
Comrade Jake
OT, but anyone catch this gem on Michael Steele (courtesy of Atrios)?
flukebucket
@Brick Oven Bill:
Sun Tzu teaches us that the third dangerous fault in a General is a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults.
My guy is very, very laid back.
Alex S.
So finally the rapture is upon us, about time.
Remember November
@Brick Oven Bill: No BoB, it’s always going to happen when a Dem is President- homegrown terrorists always try to test the Administration just like foreign ones do.
They call it patriotism, I call it fundamentalist self-justification for being violent neanderthals.
Remember November
@Brick Oven Bill:
and, fwiw, you’re 7 years too late to the party.
Pasquinade
http://teapartypatriots.ning.com/forum/topics/fbi-raids-tea-party-compound
Morbo
@pharniel: The Michigan Militia of course is only waiting for the day when we can take back Toledo from those damn Buckeyes.
Jay in Oregon
Well, they’re white and (ostensibly) Christian.
If they were scary Mooslim furriners, the news on Sunday night have had names, pictures, and hours of running commentary by the pointy heads about how we are growing soft on the War on Terror.
Hart Williams
er, Little Theodore and his ex-fm deejay wife live outside Waco, Texas (if that isn’t kreepy enuf), but Little Theodore still maintains his “game preserve” in Michigan, where he sells hunting tours (guaranteeing you a kill, I think) so that he can teach you and your kids the “Manly Art” of murdering semi-tame animals when he’s not touring in support of crappy cruddy — even by Little Theodore’s low standards — CDs.
(Seriously, if you thought “Fred Bear” was several sandwiches short of a picnic basket … it’s Missa Solemnis compared to his more recent, er, sonic excursions. Love Grenade makes a fine drink coaster, I understand.)
Meantime, his ex-FM-deejay ghost writes his “columns” and his occasional book, while Little Theodore substitutes big rifles and killing “game” for some self-perceived shortage in the generative equipment.
So hell yes he could have been there. If so, he’d undoubtedly have been LG (Love Gunner).
Ash Can
@Comrade Jake: LOL! The Party of Family Values and Fiscal Responsibility (TM) strikes again!
stuckinred
@Hart Williams:
beltane
@Violet: The names appear to be a redneck approximation of the names of Viking warlords. They look more Slavic-sounding to me, but not being a nut what do I know.
BenA
@Brick Oven Bill:
Way to go! Moving on from misunderstanding Greek philosophers to misunderstanding Chinese! You really are multicultural!
GregB
I am convinced these nugget heads would love nothing more than to live in a nation like Somalia where they could drive around in pick-ups with heavy guns mounted on the beds.
They could shoot up everything and rape and pillage to their hearts content.
Jon H
@Doctor Science: “As one of the commenters at Language Log says, this sounds more like a “Treehouse” organization than a military one.”
It’s like their own little World of Warcraft.
I guess their moms must have taken away their PCs.
David
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCBvu9MX-po&feature=channel_page
Andy
@Doctor Science:
Yes, although I don’t recall Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat et al. distributing pipe bombs.
SGEW
I’m just glad that there have been no casualties. Hopefully, this speaks well of both the professionalism of the Federal agencies involved and the not-quite-Waco-crazy nature of the current militia movement.
All in all, a modestly encouraging piece of news. So far. I hope.
Honus
@Brick Oven Bill: How true, Brick. The FBI should have just ignored a bunch of loons with guns and bombs a few miles from Cleveland instead of poking at them.
Honus
@Brick Oven Bill:
Like your hero Patton?
Montysano
http://www.hutaree.com FTW. Looks like the standard fare: playing army in the woods, camping out, getting away from the wife and kids for a weekend. Got some nice paranoid ZOMG Mark of the Beast stuff, too. Also.
Woodrowfan
whenever I see this type of story my first thought is “pipe bombs.” Or large purchases of fertilizer and some rental trucks.
David in NY
@Morbo:
Love the inside-Michigander joke.
someguy
Teabaggers with guns
waitin’ forgettin’ ready to make war on the antichrist. Fightin’ the ZOG, the Moose Limbs, and teh brown peepul, even if you won’t. Oh yeah, and doin’ it fer jebus.Nothin’ to see here folks. Just some good upstanding Republican protestors. Move along.
Camchuck
Caught a blurb on the local news that said the charges would be related to “pipe bombs”.
chrome agnomen
@stuckinred:
dating myself here, but had that 45 back in the day.
‘you might not come back!’
Camchuck
mlive.com
The Moar You Know
Pharniel nailed it; the Michigan Militia guy was also quoted on another news outlet as saying that they had trained with the Hutaree guys until some unspecified “federal firearms violations” had come to light last year.
Gravenstone
Didn’t read the other comments so this may be repeated, but I see one major point.
This isn’t the political leak factory that was the Bush DoJ. The warrants are sealed and will remain so until such time as the FBI and their supporting agencies are satisfied that they have everyone they were looking for. This is known as progress.
Until then, I expect details to be scant, as it damned well should be. Of course, this feeds into the winger paranoia of “Big Brother and the Black (Laughing) Helicopters”, but so fucking what?
Trinity
The AP is reporting that the arrests were linked to a plot to kill police.
KPR
The Detroit News has the PDF of the indictment up on their website. The criminal charges include seditious conspiracy, attempts to use weapons of mass destruction, and further explosives and firearms charges.
The government claims that this group was planning to kill one or more members of the Michigan law enforcement community as a catalyst for sparking the “big one” eagerly awaited by these militia types. In particular, they accuse these people of planning to attack the funeral of the law enforcement member with IEDs, which would draw an even bigger response from around the country and provide all these fat, camo clad buffoons with their realized wet dreams.
My God. I was looking at the website of the guy who was encouraging bricks through windows (sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com) and these people are just waiting for an excuse to “mobilize.”
pharniel
@Morbo:
You know damn well we already had that war, and we won.
that’s why toledo is part of the buckeye state.
4tehlulz
@Trinity: Obviously, this is NWA’s fault.
David
TPM has the indictment — it’s very scary and serious:
“The indictment further alleges that the Hutaree planned to kill an unidentified member of local law enforcement and then attack the law enforcement officers who gather in Michigan for the funeral. According to the plan, the Hutaree would attack law enforcement vehicles during the funeral procession with Improvised Explosive Devices with Explosively Formed Projectiles, which, according to the indictment, constitute weapons of mass destruction.”
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/feds_release_details_in_hutaree_arrests.php?ref=fpblg
4tehlulz
@David: Seditious conspiracy? Goddamn they are not fucking around.
Remember November
@Jon H:
More like CoD…without the X Boxes.
RareSanity
@Trinity:
From the article:
Sounds like a bunch of cowards to me. They were warned to be “locked and loaded”. But, when the authorities actually showed up, they went quietly like the chicken hawks everyone knows they are.
flukebucket
Damn.
Were they hoping the flush the anti-christ out by killing police officers?
What a crazy buncha fuckers.
ricky
All I can say is I am glad these young men in Michigan were not exposed to the Texas State Board of Education Curriculum.
There is no MI in TX.
Tim
Nope, just hoping to incite a revolution.
I assume that’s where the seditious conspiracy charge comes from.
Hart Williams
@ stuckinred
I have the lp … Amboy Dukes, Journey to the … etc.
Even have the ’70s stuff when the term ‘Motor City Madman’ was s’posed to be ironic.
Since I’m not a big lyrics aficionado (I like rock and roll, so i generally ignore them, i.e. Yes), I’m not sure what you’re trying to say: he was once a musician and not a complete nutbag joke?
Agreed.
That the “Nuge” finally went off the deep end of a self-inflicted acid trip that he predicted in ’67? Sure.
That nobody would be surprised if he DID turn out to be one of the wackjobs picked up in the FBI sweep?
‘Nuff said.
“The modern day composer refuses to die.”
Stroszek
Just so everyone’s clear, BoB endorses murdering cops.
RareSanity
OT:
Made my daily visit to Reddit and saw this post:
I said to myself, “This ought to be interesting”, and when to the comments. First (highest rated) comment:
Further down the comment thread, Sarah Palin came up, turns out this was the poster’s “Schiavo Moment”:
I say, just keep the Republicans in front of cameras or microphones, the rest will take care of itself.
protected static
Interesting side note: the Sipsey St Irregulars dude hates the Hutaree because they’re white supremacists. There’s a chat log floating around where he mocks them for being listed approvingly in some neo-Confederate web directory.
Jon H
@Remember November: “More like CoD…without the X Boxes.”
It was their silly rank names that led me to WoW.
Also, does anyone else think their name, Huttaree, is a mangling (or de-Africanization) of Hatari, as in the John Wayne movie? (Supposedly it’s Swahili for “danger”.)
artem1s
@Morbo:
yea, only if you agree to a three way trade that sends Cincinnati back to KY.
Chuck Butcher
@pharniel:
Having lived in both Toledo and the UP, I assume by we you mean MI? Toledo isn’t even a very good port when a west wind blows the water out of it.
etalanon
@Morbo:
Does that mean they’d also have to give the UP back? No way! Toledo ain’t worth it.
Mebbe worth a half dozen pasties but if they’re homemade…no way.
Larry
What’s going on here is a combination of ultra-right wing comspiracy theory coupled with a pseudo-Christian mis-reading of scripture. And there’s some racial hatred mixed in as well.
Their idea is that the Antichrist will either soon be here or has arrived already, and that the government is the Antichrist’s servant.
So, in their twisted logic, it follows that the government must be destroyed in order for Christ to reign supreme. They were going to start by killing all the policeman they could to get this final Armageddon started.
It’s easy to call this “stupid” or “nutty,” but it’s too serious for that.