Mendacious Maniacal Militia Mess

No. Not this kind of militia. Think newer. Image Courtesy WikiCommons.

We here at USDemocrazy like to think of ourselves as fearless reporters who scoff in the face of danger. That’s right, we’ll have soda and Pop Rocks for lunch… and Mentos with diet soda at dinner. Bring it on.

But there are some things that do scare us. Like radical militias living among the general populace planning to kill random law enforcement officials. Like the group nine Michigan-based radical militia members who were indicted this past Saturday. That scares the heck out of us.

We’ve got the rundown…

The NYTimes gives us the gist of the matter…

In an indictment against the nine unsealed on Monday, the Justice Department said they were part of a group of apocalyptic Christian militants who were plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of inciting an antigovernment uprising, the latest in a recent surge in right-wing militia activity.

Gah! Now that’s a big deal. Salon tells us that officials reeled in the last of these guys Monday:

Joshua Matthew Stone surrendered without a fight Monday night…Stone’s father and seven others believed to be part of the Michigan-based Hutaree militia group appeared in court earlier Monday on charges that they had plotted to kill a police officer then slaughter scores more by bombing the officer’s funeral — all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the government.

John Avlon at the Daily Beast puts a name to these types of folks:

Yesterday’s arrest of nine members of a shadowy Michigan-based Christian militia group known as the Hutaree…provides the latest example of a phenomenon I called Hatriots—people who confuse hate and violence for patriotism.

Avlon points to this report from the Southern Poverty Law Center to show that “Hatriots” are on the rise.

The number of hate groups in America has been going up for years, rising 54% between 2000 and 2008 and driven largely by an angry backlash against non-white immigration and, starting in the last year of that period, the economic meltdown and the climb to power of an African American president.

Eugene Robinson at a WaPo Op-Ed Column said this demonstrates the tangible risk of “far-right violence:”

The arrests of members of a Michigan-based “Christian” militia group should convince doubters that there is good reason to worry about right-wing, anti-government extremism — and potential violence — in the Age of Obama.

At the same time, TPMMuckraker says that other militia groups are moving to distance themselves from the Hutaree. However they point to evidence that the Hutaree do fit into the overall militia movement:

Conventional militia organizations are racing to distance themselves from the Hutaree…Operationally, the Hutaree appears to have at least some ties to the broader movement.

That’s some heavy stuff folks. Any thoughts?