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I've been saying that I think La Mesa, California is a microcosm of what has been going on in towns around the United States: white supremacists, anti-vaxxers, "population control" maniacs, and other disinfo pushers have coagulated into loose groups advocating for militias.
This just crossed my radar. It's one of the myriad "Defense" groups that has sprung up in the last month all over the place. This is no different:
What's different in this case is that they left this group public, so anyone can go in there and just poke around.
Which brings me to THIS fuckin' guy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200625204159/https://www.facebook.com/groups/285160942666440/
Which brings me to THIS fuckin' guy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200625204159/https://www.facebook.com/groups/285160942666440/
Roger Ogden organized a "Patriot" rally at Chicano Park in 2018. He is constantly uncritically quoted by local press as a concerned local citizen, but the truth is that he has been inciting ethnic violence in San Diego for years. Here's @IGD_News' coverage https://itsgoingdown.org/san-diego-far-right-trolls-outnumbered-chicano-park-fight-among/
He's now trying -- along with Scott McMillan and Naomi Israel, among others -- to organize militias in San Diego, a region riddled with unexamined white supremacist problems.
Here's Scott McMillan: http://archive.is/CEiiq
Here's Scott McMillan: http://archive.is/CEiiq
This is Naomi Soria/Naomi Israel: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/woman-facing-arrest-possible-charges-for-san-diego-covid-19-protest/509-0221dca6-46a5-4d0a-88f5-3e23903a7107
And now they're all just chillin together "patrolling" in their yellow vests: https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2020/06/09/debate-rages-online-over-yellow-vested-la-mesa-civil-defense-group/
People like this seem to be "magically" finding one another on Facebook right now, all over the United States, with only their steady diets of corrosive disinformation to bind them together -- but with common goals.
And that's the kind of shit that @Facebook is allowing.
And that's the kind of shit that @Facebook is allowing.
Not just allowing -- this is a pattern. It's how liberal democracies have gotten so fucked.
Now I ask you: Is this -- pushed and prodded along the garden path by invisible algorithms until it turns into chaos -- what you would consider free speech?
Now I ask you: Is this -- pushed and prodded along the garden path by invisible algorithms until it turns into chaos -- what you would consider free speech?
By the way, I've been on this for months. Do you really think these people are doing this at the same time, all across the country, just their own? https://twitter.com/brooklynmarie/status/1251610680630759424
Oh and also: OANN is local to San Diego; Calexit was local to San Diego; Kremlin-friendly white supremacist groups have operated border militias in San Diego since the 1970s and have a visible presence in the region still -- now more than ever amid #BlackLivesMatter 
protests.
protests.
Just saying this shit's a fucking problem and I wish that more local reporters would dig into it.
But not just in San Diego. Everywhere. Everywhere you're hearing stories about imaginary "antifa uprisings" or "BLM thugs rioting" and "real Americans" standing up to them. Everywhere you've seen anti-lockdown protests since April. It's all inauthentically organized. Call it out!
This is the story of how it's working, right here, in a microcosm. Otherwise we'll get more accelerationism, more disinformation-driven chaos, violence, more instability along racial and ethnic lines. In other words, we'll get this. https://www.wired.com/story/how-facebooks-rise-fueled-chaos-and-confusion-in-myanmar/
Finally (I think), this is our April coverage of those inauthentically organized and astroturfed "anti-lockdown" protests. https://www.truthorfiction.com/operation-gridlock-facebook-may-day-mutiny/
lmao
It's always the same people. See this story? San Diego?
"“I never threatened him, I just called him out on his actions. I never threatened him and I’ve received death threats, thousands, it’s very upsetting. It’s very scary,” said Amber Lynn Gilles." https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/woman-who-shamed-starbucks-barista-for-refusing-to-serve-her-without-mask-speaks-out-as-baristas-gofundme-grows/2354016/
"“I never threatened him, I just called him out on his actions. I never threatened him and I’ve received death threats, thousands, it’s very upsetting. It’s very scary,” said Amber Lynn Gilles." https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/woman-who-shamed-starbucks-barista-for-refusing-to-serve-her-without-mask-speaks-out-as-baristas-gofundme-grows/2354016/
See how it works and how they play the public discourse?
It's like five thirsty people in every town getting way more attention than they deserve for their grift, and then the easily influenced types follow them around. That's it, that's all, that's all it's ever been. It is disinformation and always has been. https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2020/04/20/black-leaders-assail-sdpd-chief-over-restrained-treatment-of-freedom-rally/
So stop falling for this stupid "spectacle" shit. Roger Stone and his acolytes have been playing the national media like this for forty years. When will everyone catch on?
And that is what I mean by "inauthentic organizing" or "astroturfing." It's grift all the way down.
And that is what I mean by "inauthentic organizing" or "astroturfing." It's grift all the way down.
Oh and finally, local news reporters, get your shit together. Stop referring to creeps like Ogden as mere "concerned residents." He is a pest, a gadfly, a known white supremacist, and an all-around asshole who has been trying to spark racial violence for years.
