OUR PICKSExtremist Militias on Facebook | From Panic to Policy | An Army of Voice Clones, and more
· Extremist Militias Are Coordinating in More Than 100 Facebook Groups
After lying low for years in the aftermath of January 6, exclusive reporting shows, militia extremist groups and profiles have been quietly reorganizing and ramping up recruitment and rhetoric on Facebook
· Trump Wants to Prosecute Biden. He Also Thinks Presidents Deserve Immunity.
In arguing to the Supreme Court that he cannot be charged for acts while in office, Donald Trump has asked the justices to enforce a norm that he has long threatened to shatter
· The End of ‘The Aftermath’
Season 2 of our narrative series on Jan. 6 has come to a close. But the search for accountability is far from over
· Why the U.S. Intelligence Community Needs an OSINT Agency
The establishment of a dedicated OSINT agency would be a step towards reconfiguring the IC for the challenges of the information age
· From Panic to Policy: The Limits of Foreign Propaganda and the Foundations of an Effective Response
The relationship between people’s attitudes and their media consumption remains murky at best
· ElevenLabs Is Building an Army of Voice Clones
A tiny start-up has made some of the most convincing AI voices. Are its creators ready for the chaos they’re unleashing?
Extremist Militias Are Coordinating in More Than 100 Facebook Groups (Tess Owen, Wired)
“Join your local Militia or III% Patriot Group,” a post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army. Accompanied by the logo for the Three Percenters militia network and an image of a man in tactical gear holding a long rifle, the post continues: “Now more than ever. Support the American militia page.”
Other content and messaging in the group is similar. And despite the fact that Facebook bans paramilitary organizing and deemed the Three Percenters an “armed militia group” on its 2021 Dangerous Individuals and Organizations List, the post and group remained up until WIRED contacted Meta for comment about its existence.
Free American Army is just one of around 200 similar Facebook groups and profiles, most of which are still live, that anti-government and far-right extremists are using to coordinate local militia activity around the country.
Trump Wants to Prosecute Biden. He Also Thinks Presidents Deserve Immunity. (Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)
When a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump argued before the Supreme Court last week that his client should be immune from charges of plotting to subvert the last election, he asked the justices to picture a world in which former presidents were ceaselessly pursued in the courts by their successors.
“Could President Biden someday be charged with unlawfully inducing immigrants to enter the country illegally for his border policies?” the lawyer, D. John Sauer, asked.
What Mr. Sauer did not mention was that Mr. Trump has done as much as anyone to escalate the prospect of threatening political rivals with prosecution. In 2016, his supporters greeted mentions of Hillary Clinton with chants of “lock her up.” In his current campaign, Mr. Trump has explicitly warned of his intent to use the legal system as a weapon of political retribution, with frequent declarations that he could go after President Biden and his family. (Cont.)
