Our picksMegadrought in the American West | Norway’s Massacre: 10 Years On | Booming Trade in Surveillance Tech, and more

Published 22 July 2021

·  Is the American West in a Megadrought?

·  Norway Marks 10 Years Since Massacre by Neo-Nazi

·  Ad Hoc Extremist Groups Come into Focus in Post-January 6 Criminal Charges

·  Extremist Groups’ Recruitment of Veterans Prompts a Closer Look from Lawmakers

·  Spyware for Sale: The Booming Trade in Surveillance Tech

·  Biden’s Domestic Terrorism Strategy Concerns Advocates

·  America Treated the Oslo Attacks as a Fringe Incident. Here’s Why That’s Been So Dangerous

Is the American West in a Megadrought? (Economist)
An arid couple of decades raises questions about the history and future of the region.

Norway Marks 10 Years Since Massacre by Neo-Nazi  (France24)
Norway on Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the worst massacre in its modern history, as church bells toll for the 77 people murdered by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik. The Scandinavian nation had been mostly spared from extremist violence until July 22, 2011, when Breivik set off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people before going on a shooting spree at a summer camp for left-wing youths on the island of Utoya. “I was 16 years old and I couldn’t decide which funerals to go to because there were so many,” said Astrid Eide Hoem, a survivor who has since become head of the Labor Party’s youth league (AUF), which organized the camp. “I had never lost anyone close to me before, but also now, being in my mid-20s, I think about what would have become of them, the job they might have had, the children…” A morning memorial ceremony at the government headquarters, church masses and another ceremony on Utoya in the afternoon, will mark the anniversary. At noon (1000 GMT), church bells nationwide will ring. Shortly after the attacks, the then-Labor Party prime minister and current NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg promised to respond with “more democracy” and “more humanity.

Ad Hoc Extremist Groups Come into Focus in Post-January 6 Criminal Charges  (Katelyn Polantz, CNN)
When officers arrested Robert Morss of Pennsylvania on charges related to the January 6 Capitol riot, they found in his car a notebook with a page titled, “Step by Step to Create Hometown Militia.” Beneath it Morss allegedly scribbled bullet point reminders, fleshing out the idea of forming a violent cell — “bring assault rifle” and “set up your kit” — and notes on “formation.” In the Morss case and others, the Justice Department repeatedly has documented the emergence of what could be called small, right-wing extremist groups. This comes along with rising warnings from US intelligence about violence from right-wing extremists. Since January, prosecutors have alleged that several people who are charged with participating in the insurrection or with planning politically motivated violence also showed interest in organizing others, according to an extensive review of Capitol riot and other Justice Department cases by CNN. (Cont.)