One of America’s Most Notorious Militias
Published on Nov 2, 2012
We interviewed the founder of the notorious Michigan Militia to find out about its ties with Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bombing and more.
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Norman Olson is the founder of the Michigan Militia, the most famous/notorious/we-think-maybe-oldest? group of the early-90s citizens’ militia movement. If you’re too young to remember, that was this thing where guys in camouflage got together to train with their guns and guys with cameras pretended they were scary and racist. The movement hit a speed bump when it got blamed for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and Norm Olson didn’t do much good for his own group when he tried to pass the blame to the Japanese—an idea which, if you subscribe to certain theories concerning the earlier sarin-gas attack on the Tokyo subway and the responsible doomsday cult’s alleged connections to the Japanese Imperial Family, makes a limited sort of sense, but otherwise sounds like the craziest of all possible answers. With faith already shaken in his leadership, Norm then hitched the Militia’s wagon to fears over that Y2K thing and by February 2000 the group was essentially defunct. However, as you may have heard from the Southern Poverty Law Center or one of the hundreds of press outlets who reprinted their press release as a “story,” right-wing militia activity is back on the upswing. And never one to look a media jizz-rush in the mouth, Norm and his old compatriot Ray Southwell are using the momentum to try and get a new militia started on Alaska’s Kenai peninsula. So far it’s been going kind of rough, but that didn’t stop Norm and Ray from inviting us in for coffee and a quick flip through his big, yarn-bound book of Militia Mem’ries. Come join us, as we televize the nostalgialution…
Originally released in 2010 on http://VICE.com
Coming to a Street Near you: America’s 2nd Revolutionary War
Published on Jan 10, 2013
Traveling from tea parties in Texas to “Oath Keeper” rallies in Massachusetts, VICE investigates whether the country is actually on the verge of the 2nd Revolutionary War.
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The Department of Homeland Security classifies them as potential “domestic terrorists”; they prefer to be called patriots. As the economic crisis deepens, a growing movement of Americans is rejecting the two-party system and the mainstream media. They believe a violent revolution is imminent, and they’re getting ready for it now. VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy crosses the country to meet the people on the front lines of the struggle. They include Alex Jones, a radio talk show host in Austin, Texas who is waking people up to the dangers of the corporate globalists — and has seen traffic on his websites increase dramatically in recent months. We also meet Sgt. Charles Dyer, a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton who has taken an oath to disobey unconstitutional orders and take up arms against the government if it becomes tyrannical — and is training a citizen militia to do the same.
Originally released in 2010 on http://VICE.com
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