A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias (2025) | Hacker News Reader

A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias (2025)

propublica.org

132 pointsgeorgecmu29 comments

The involvement of Police and military personnel is not unexpected, but still rather horrifying.

This - I hate to be the person that always posts the same thing, but read about Operation Gladio ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio ) to see how NATO encouraged and enabled far right groups (with support of police, secret services and the army) to operate clandestine militias across Europe. If that is what they did in Europe, I wonder what they were supporting in America?

Operation Gladio is one of those pieces of history that people ought to know, so don’t feel bad. It’s appreciated.

And as I’m sure you know, the answer to your second question is Operation Condor, at least if you take “America” to mean South America as well.

The bbc doc where all the old Italian guys reminisce about the good old time killing people is great and terrifying..

A doctor too. Given only single one mentioned but still

(2025)

Some discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42594766

This article reminded me that there might be people in my country who see me as a person they are in community with instead of an object to be managed or moved. People who see me as human and act accordingly are rare these days. So much so, that even this feels like a gift. So thank you John Williams, your work is much appreciated.

I recall seeing a documentary about him, sadly cant seem to find it, it should be on youtube? Both names are seemingly a bit hard to search by

See also "Under Cover", by John Roy Carlson, who did similar stuff in the early 1940s.

Let me dust off this evergreen comment I use at times like this…

> Worth noting, Patriot Front had a huge leak of data in 2022 (400GB).

> [Patriot Front Fascist Leak Exposes Nationwide Racist Campaigns](https://unicornriot.ninja/2022/patriot-front-fascist-leak-ex...)

> You can download it at the following torrent address:

> magnet:?xt=urn:btih:2c87816e4c81990fb25bbca43dd8d578eaa55886&dn=patriotfront&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969

> I'm seeding this on a permanent basis. I have gigabit uplink. Please leach and share. Expose these nazi fucks.

2025

This article could do with an serious edit; it seems to be an odd mix of actual information, imagined colour and emotion to the point where it is a little difficult to follow and hard to work out the credibility of any individual assertion. I get the strong impression here that Williams is a bit paranoid and spent a lot of time fearing for his skin in the company of people who thought we was a good mate and would probably just kick him out of the club if they figured out he was conspiring against them. I thought this passage summed the vibe up best:

> They spotted the dog at the same time. The bug was attached to a charging device. The animal was running around with it like it was a tennis ball. As Kinch went to retrieve it, Williams felt panic grip his chest. Could anyone talk their way out of this? He’d learned enough about Kinch to be terrified of his rage. Looking around, Williams eyed his host’s handgun on the kitchen counter.

> If he even starts to examine it, I’ll grab the gun, [Williams] thought. Then I’ll shoot him and flee into the woods.

> Kinch took the bug from the dog’s mouth. Then he handed it right to Williams and started to apologize.

The lede isn’t just buried, it is submerged in a swamp under a pile of human interest rocks.

The article mentions several relatively minor/local public figures, including a prosecutor, apparently caught on mic saying they’ve influenced policy in favour of the group. Political lobbying is one thing, but an undeclared interest, another entirely.

As best I can tell this was published, talked about for a few days, and sank under its own mass. Their most read piece of 25, apparently, and it went precisely nowhere.

The only people who can do anything about this are either actively involved or allied with these groups, so no real surprise it sank.

Good lesson: carry your weapon on your person.

This is a style of reporting called "narrative journalism": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_journalism

It's not to everyone's taste (I often find it frustrating, like how confident is the reporter that the characters felt the way they are describing at various points in the story), but it has a long history, especially in US media.

I have a suspicion that it's less common in the UK and Europe.

I’ve learned to skip several paragraphs of writing once I recognize the pattern. These types of articles turn into long essays where the writer is trying to create a work of art more so than convey important information.

It’s called telling a story. That’s one of the most important part of investigative journalism

It’s also the important warning illustrated by the Gell-Mann amnesia effect: journalists are not experts in the fields they report on so the stories they tell about them are often grossly incorrect and misconstrued but you need some expertise or experience in the field to sort the bullshit from the facts.

Crafting a narrative out of a handful of facts about a domain you don’t fully understand is a perfect recipe for bullshit.

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