1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here and I wanted to let 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: you know. This is a compiletion episode. So every episode 3 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: of the week that just happened is here in one 4 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: convenient and with somewhat less ads package for you to 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: listen to in a long stretch if you want. If 6 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, 7 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: there's gonna be nothing new here for you, but you 8 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: can make your own decisions. It could happen here is 9 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: a podcast, UM, and it is kind of happening here 10 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: because they're just was just an attack on uh, several 11 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: power substations in the city of North Or City in 12 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: the state of North Carolina, UM that left something like 13 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: forty people without power for several days. I believe that 14 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: at the moment at least one person died as a 15 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,160 Speaker 1: result of this. There have been car crashes. It's pretty 16 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: fucked up, and UH we are going to be talking 17 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: about that obviously. As a result of this. Number one 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: where a lot of immediate suspicions that came out that 19 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: this was tied towards Drag Queen UH Story Hour type 20 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: event that was going to be being held on the 21 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: day that the attack was carried out. There's suspicions that 22 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: this is the result of far right activity. Um, and 23 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: uh yeah, we're gonna talk about that and everything around 24 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: that right now. Um. We have on the episode for 25 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 1: today myself, Garrison Davis, James Stout, and we are also 26 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: bringing in friend of the pod, researcher and woman about town. Um, 27 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: but not this town, a different town because we live 28 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: on opposite sides of the country. Molly Conger, Molly, I've 29 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: been saying your last name wrong for years, even though 30 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: we've been friends for quite a while. I don't know 31 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: why I never said anything. It's come up so many times. Yeah. Um, so, Garrison, 32 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: you've kind of been taking point on putting together this one, 33 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: so I'm gonna let you kind of take the reins 34 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: unless you want me to, uh to to to direct 35 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: this more. But I do think kind of the place 36 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: to start is all we're watching a gigantic right wing 37 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: insurgency unfold or is this a more complex case? And 38 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: obviously the answer is the latter, as it is anytime 39 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: someone poses a question like that now, is we're gonna 40 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: We're gonna, we're gonna pick this the simple, more scary, 41 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: more inflammatary option and leave it at that. Yeah, let's 42 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: send tweet no so yes. Um, the aftermath of the 43 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: North Carolina attack is kind of it's gotten a lot 44 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: of people to learn about infrastructure attacks for the first 45 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: time and get really scared about them and realize that 46 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: this is a problem, and then start bringing up past 47 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: incidents when this has happened and trying to draw this 48 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: like overall pattern, which isn't entirely incorrect, but the way 49 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: they're going about it is not very responsible nor really 50 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: well informed. Yeah. So one of the things we've seen 51 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: is like the there have been a lot of attack Like, uh, 52 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: it does seem accure to say that over the course 53 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 1: of the last year or two there have been more 54 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: attacks on power infrastructure. Um, But that doesn't mean we 55 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: have we have lots of data on this. It has 56 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: the past five years there has been a pretty strong 57 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: increase in the number of attacks on power stations. And 58 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: it's also true that this is a thing the right 59 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: has been The far right, like the Nazi right in particular, 60 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: has been trying to get people to do for longer 61 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: than anyone on this podcast has been alive. Um. This 62 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: goes back to the Turner Diaries even pre that stuff. 63 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: This is in siege, um, and this is you know, 64 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: there has been very recently this summer a couple of 65 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: pieces of fairly well put together Nazi propaganda that was 66 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: advocating for people to carry out attacks like this. And 67 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: the reason is that it's easy and it's high impact. 68 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: It's very easy to funk up a power substation. All 69 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: you need is a gun, um, and it's very easy 70 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: to get away with it because most of them have 71 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: effectively zero security. Yeah, and it explained how to do 72 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: it as well, right, sorry, money like it. It was 73 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: literally a guide to fucking up the substation. Yeah, because 74 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: they're specific, We're not going to give you guys a 75 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: guide to fucking up power substations on this podcast. But 76 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: it's not hard. Yeah, that's next week. It's on the Patreon. 77 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: You go on Patreon. That's that's the Patreon special episode, 78 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: how to Destroy power Infrastructure for fun and Profit. No, 79 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: but I thin think too. If you're trying to propagandize 80 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: people to take action, you know, we've all seen plenty 81 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: of manifestoes from people who carried out mass shootings trying 82 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: to propagandize people to take action in that effect. Um, 83 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: But we've also seen the chats when somebody fails, right, 84 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: like if somebody doesn't get what they call it, you know, 85 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: a high score. If somebody carries out a mass shooting 86 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: that doesn't result in very many debts, it's embarrassing for them. 87 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: But this is for the perpetrator, relatively low stakes. If 88 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: you fail, no one will know. If you miss, no 89 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: one will know. Um, if you hit the you know, 90 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: if you hit it, it just looks like vandalism and 91 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: the power doesn't go out. No one will know that 92 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: you failed, and you can try again later. You don't die. 93 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: And that's Let's the title of one of the one 94 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: of the pieces of propaganda that I sent to you, right. 95 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: The title of it is make It Count, which is 96 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: an impredated form of a quote from Siege. I wish 97 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: it's a Nazi and I'm not going to read from 98 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: the general effect. The general gist of the quote is 99 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: that you know, the price of failure is death, So 100 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: whatever you choose to do, make it count. So this 101 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: is a way to relatively low stakes for the perpetrator, 102 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: way to have a very high impact with low risk 103 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: of personal failure. And what I did find and we'll 104 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: get off. We'll move to the broader topic in a second, 105 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: because I think focusing too much on the Nazis right 106 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: now is going to frame things the wrong way. But 107 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: one of the things I did find interesting about that 108 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: piece of propaganda was the acknowledgement of the introduction that like, 109 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 1: carrying out these mass shootings is not going to accomplish 110 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 1: our brother goals in part because people have gotten and 111 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: neared to them. Whereas destroying power infrastructure, if you can 112 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: funk up the grid, they believe that's going to like 113 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: and I think, obviously this is a silly line of thought, 114 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: but they think it's going to like lead to the 115 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: I mean, this is always what I think it's going 116 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: to lead to, like the race war that they want, right, 117 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: That's that's the thinking there would be in that equation. 118 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: Isn't like a two B two C like this question 119 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: mark question mark race war. Yeah, they're Nazis, you know 120 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: they're Nazis. They're not right about things. But the the 121 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: fact that all this propaganda is out there, the fact 122 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: they've been talking about this so long, is part of 123 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: why everyone is convinced that like there's this massive new 124 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: insurgency that's just broken out and that that's what all 125 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: of these attacks are, which doesn't mean that none of 126 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: them are. Um. It's also worth noting that the year 127 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: before this happened in the same state in North Carolina, 128 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: a group of Nazis were arrested by the FEDS for 129 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: trying to attack power infrastructure, and they also had plans 130 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: on the Pacific Northwest, where there have been in Washington 131 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: Portland attacks on some power infrastructure. They also they're also 132 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: just so happens to be a lot of Nazis here, 133 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: both the Carolinas and the Pacific and the Pacific Northwest 134 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: are home to a lot of people who self describe 135 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: as like militant neo Nazi accelerationists. And what I think 136 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: we should do now before we get too much off 137 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: this and we can return to this topic, is talk 138 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: about the fact that, and this is kind of the 139 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: important context, a lot of people who aren't Nazis funk 140 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: up electrical grids all the time. It's actually very easy, 141 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: and people seem to just enjoy it. American I think 142 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: there's there's there's been a lot of missteps people have 143 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: taken in talking about this, and kind of you know, 144 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: some people have gotten scared and kind of you know, 145 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: uh not not looked at this uh fully analytically in 146 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: a way that is actually really helpful, because there's been 147 00:07:54,320 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: a lot of kind of retrospective misinformation going around on 148 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: attacks that have happened in the past few months that 149 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: I've only really gotten reported on or noticed in the 150 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: wake of the North Carolina attack, which is kind of 151 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: caused this narrative to come out that since the North 152 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: Carolina attack, there's been like a bajillion of other other 153 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: attacks happening in quick succession, which actually isn't true. So 154 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: that's I first, I want to talk about the types 155 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: of stuff that is that people are generally getting wrong 156 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: about this because it's a good a good deal. People 157 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: are are are misunderstanding some some of what's going on here. Um. 158 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: So there was this you know, pretty pretty viral uh 159 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: story made by a new station in Florida that came 160 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: out a few days ago talking about how it's all 161 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: caps substations targeted reports shows intrusions that Duke Energy power 162 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,199 Speaker 1: stations in Tampa Bay and elsewhere in Florida, so very 163 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: scary obviously because Duke Energy is also the place in 164 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: North Carolina that was attacked founded by the guy who 165 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: invented the modern cigarette, by the way, Bay based. Yes, 166 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: but if you if you look, if you look at 167 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: the actual story, these intrusions that they're talking about happened 168 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,719 Speaker 1: last September. They did not. They did not happen a 169 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: few days ago. And then also similarly, for the first time, 170 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: there was reporting on a whole bunch of substation attacks 171 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: in the Pacific Northwest. That reporting was dropped after the 172 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: North Carolina attacks, in part because a memo was was 173 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: was posted by a few different news sites that they 174 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: probably did open records requests in the wake of the 175 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: North Carolina attack, they found this memo, reported on it, 176 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: and now people have this, you know, have learned about 177 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,839 Speaker 1: this other thing that happened in November. So but people 178 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: who don't, who are really only looking at headlines or 179 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: only looking at tweets, um or posts wherever, right, uh, 180 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: they look at these attacks and they look at, you know, 181 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 1: the succession of them becoming public after the North Carolina thing, 182 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: and they're kind of drawing this narrative that these things 183 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: have happened one after another and it's part of this 184 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: brand new wave of things, and it is part of 185 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: a wave of things and like the broad sense, but 186 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: it's not all happened within the past two weeks. So 187 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: the first thing is like, when it's super easy for 188 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: a disinformation and misinformation to spread very rampantly in the 189 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: aftermath of these types of attacks UM, and these types 190 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: of incidents, you know, some of these probably are not 191 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: attacks UM, And it's really easy to kind of glom 192 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: onto an arative that's compelling and scary, and if you 193 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 1: just dig it a little a little bit deeper, deeper, 194 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: you'll realize there's a whole bunch of context that you're missing. 195 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: So that's always an important first step when the when 196 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: these things are happening. Yeah, and it's part of the 197 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 1: part of the story here. I think part of why 198 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: it's important to understand that, like the surgeon, attacks on 199 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: power infrastructure is a thing, but it's not necessarily tied 200 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: to the fact that Nazis are attacking the power infrastructure, 201 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: is that like it's easy to do, it's easy to 202 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: do casually, and this has been known for a while. 203 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: About a decade ago, two dozen thirteen, there was an 204 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: attack in the Bay Area on I think was it 205 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: was it to power substations. Um, yeah, the Metcalf sniper. 206 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,319 Speaker 1: And we don't know how many people were involved, but suspected, 207 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's suspected more than one. Yes, yes, sniper. 208 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: And this was a very if if this was a 209 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: practice attack, a training attack, then it was a very 210 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,679 Speaker 1: effectively carried out one. Because we still don't know who 211 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: did it and regardless of the mode of this incidence 212 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: of has been mythologized in a lot of extremist circles 213 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: as like an example of here's a successful thing that 214 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: is replicable and you can get away with it. This 215 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: is this is one of the most highly referenced incidents 216 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:50,079 Speaker 1: of infrastructure attack on you know, across you know, whether 217 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:54,319 Speaker 1: you're like anti Siev bloodite or whether you're a neo 218 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: Nazi accelerationist. This is, this specific attack is highly referenced. 219 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: And we'll circle back to this towards the end. But 220 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: because I'm going to quote from a recent report by 221 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 1: the George Washington University on power substation attacks. Um, they are, 222 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: they are extremely common. They are they are becoming increasingly 223 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: common since white supremacists are not the only ones who 224 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: do them. They were also from from nineteen, A whole 225 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: bunch of ISIS inspired terrorism also hit UM substations across 226 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 1: the United States. They are they are, They're not exclusively 227 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: done by white supremacists, and there's also sometimes they're just 228 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: shot at by random people with guns. And let's be honest. 229 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: So the Metcalf attack, it's not impossible that it was 230 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: just an un usually lucky group of ye who's who 231 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: wanted to shoot some power infrastructure we have I think 232 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: the number of rounds fired directly in yeah, no, unlikely. 233 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: Almost every intelligence agency will disagree with you on that, Robert. 234 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: You know what they didn't catch. They didn't catch ship. 235 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 1: But to Robert's point, I think I think there is 236 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: some value in remembering that a drunk guy in the 237 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: woods might love to fire a gun at something that's 238 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: gonna sparks. Shoot a gun, you might as well shoot 239 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: it a lot. No, I I probably wouldn't shoot it 240 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: two times that it was very It was it was 241 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: very anyway, I there is we and we talked about 242 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: this a bit in our planning. There was one attack 243 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 1: and Molly, you probably could recall a year better than 244 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: I was. But it was a couple of years ago 245 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: where the guy attacked the power substation because he and 246 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: he talked about this at length in his trial. He 247 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: thought people were on their phones too much. So I said, 248 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: I sent this one to you. I loved. I love 249 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: to find a court record. I'd love to spend all 250 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:52,199 Speaker 1: my all my pocket change on pacer and they give 251 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: me access to the law library. So I spent all 252 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: day today, UM, looking for any case we're not not 253 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: just charge? Where can PICCTI of any case where UM 254 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: USC eighteen USC thirteen sixty six was brought up? So 255 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: thirteen sixty six is the federal statute for damaging or 256 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: conspiring to damage and energy facility. And so energy facility 257 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: means power lines, power substations, coal mines, nuclear facilities, any 258 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: place where power is made. Right, So it's a pretty 259 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: broad statute. And so I looked up a few dozen 260 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: cases where that was on the table to sort of 261 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: bring the temperature down and say, like, okay, aside from 262 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: Nazis trying to cause a race war, what are some 263 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: other things that lead to somebody getting charged with this? 264 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: Other motivations, other scenarios. UM. In that case was Jason 265 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: wood Ring, UM. Jason wood Ring in August he tried 266 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: to use a This is a quote from some news 267 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: coverage the time tried to last. So a train with 268 00:14:53,320 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: a cable attached to a high voltage tower. Critical support. 269 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 1: He is still in prison, right, distracted by their screens, 270 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: by their phones, by their gaming, and he just wanted 271 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: people to remember what's important. So he tried to locker 272 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: train with high voltage wire. Now I probably, yeah, we 273 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: probably don't need to add this. He was a big 274 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: enthusiast of methamphetamy, has ordered substance abuse treatment, and we 275 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: wish him nothing but the best, right, I think he's 276 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: going to be just fine. But so I found some 277 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: other cases where there was an intentional attack with the 278 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: you know, with the stated intention of bringing down the grid, 279 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: but for like non Nazi reasons. In the early two thousand's, UM, 280 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: a bunch of E l F activists were charged with 281 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: thirteen sixty six for arsons to energy facilities. UM, this 282 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: is an odd. In twenty nineteen, a guy named Stephen 283 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: McCrae was sentenced for attacking one substation by shooting out 284 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: the cooling fins, and as part of his plea agreement, 285 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: he admitted to three other attacks. UM. He got caught 286 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: because he told a friend of his that he'd been 287 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: shooting ship up. I was concerned and went to the FBI, 288 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: and they had his friend record some of their cosends 289 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: and so he said things like he stated motive was 290 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: attacking corporate America so some couldn't be done about global warming. 291 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: He wasn't noted as an environmental activist, but he was 292 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: concerned about the corporations, which I don't know that Alex 293 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: Jones code in language globalists from a couple of different places. Yeah, listen, people, maybe, 294 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: but he right before his arrest, he told his friend 295 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: that he was planning a grand daddy event that would 296 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: make national news and shut down the whole West coast. Okay, okay, 297 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: that's maybe. That's sometimes you can't don't tell that to 298 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: your friend, yeah, or anyone. Your friend is still snitching 299 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: and that sucks, but like, don't don't tell that to 300 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: your Although, according to the euro of Prisons innate locator, 301 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,159 Speaker 1: which is another tool I really enjoy, he was released 302 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:32,879 Speaker 1: in September. That's yeah. This I think it helps to 303 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: make the point that like this is not all are 304 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:38,960 Speaker 1: mostly Nazis doing this kind of thing. A lot of 305 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: people wanted to think to make about the you know 306 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: these sort of I found a third case that sort 307 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: of fits the same pattern, a guy who shot out 308 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: a transformer for reasons I can't quite discern based on 309 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: the court rhylings. But again, in all three of these cases, 310 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 1: the Miles Maynard case in Alabama in two thousand eight, 311 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: Jason woodreyeen, Stephen McCrae in twenty nine, they all had 312 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: court order psyche valves, and in mccraye's case there were 313 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: questions about his compensy to stand trial. Miles Miles Maynard 314 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: died shortly after being released from prison. These are people 315 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: who were not well. Yeah, not that not that being 316 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: unwell or having a sub problem make you shoot a substation. 317 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:20,440 Speaker 1: But these aren't explicitly ideological. These are people who just 318 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: got an idea in their head and didn't control it. Well. Yeah, 319 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: And I think part of when you're kind of looking 320 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: at just any of these attacks, you're trying to discern 321 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: as stuff pops into the news, is this likely part 322 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: of an insurgent trend? Or is this like some dudes 323 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: fucking around? One of them would be like, what was 324 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 1: the how much like how much effort and planning? Does 325 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 1: it look like when into the Metcalf attack, looks like 326 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: quite a lot. I would say the most recent Portland's 327 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: and Washington attacks, given the extent to which there were breakings, 328 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: looked like it was very a lot of steps had 329 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: to had to go in. So let's have an ad 330 00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: break and then we'll go into some more actual details 331 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,879 Speaker 1: of the North Carolina attack and some of the Pacific 332 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: Northwest ones, and then kind of circle back to why 333 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: people are talking about accelerationism so much. You know who 334 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: loves planning a series of infrastructure attacks. The sponsors of 335 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: this show, attacks on the infrastructure of your wallet. We're bulk, 336 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: and nothing that we said before the break can legally 337 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 1: be called incitement. Um, it's a joke. It's fine. So 338 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,239 Speaker 1: now we're gonna we're gonna talk a little bit more 339 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: about the details of the North Carolina attack and some 340 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: of the attacks in the Pacific Northwest, and yeah, just 341 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: getting get into some more of the actual details that 342 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: have been going on with these most recent attacks that 343 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: have kind of caused people to speculate on various things. 344 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: So the agencies involved in investigating the North Carolina More 345 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: County attack have disclosed very little information about what's happened. UH, 346 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: They've they've said that the equipment was hit by gunfire 347 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 1: and that the shooters appeared to know what they were doing. UH. 348 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: Investigators have found nearly two dozen shell casings from high 349 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: powered rifles in the area around and people lost power 350 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: and UH that power outage lasted for like at least 351 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: five days, as as the company tried to replace these 352 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: very large pieces of equipment, many of which were damaged 353 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: beyond repair. So investigators are zoning in on two threads 354 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: of possible motives centered around extremist behavior for the for 355 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: the for the attack that happened last last Sunday. One 356 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: of these one of these is writings by extremists on 357 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: online forms encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure, as well as 358 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: a series of recent disruptions of LGBTQ plus events across 359 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,959 Speaker 1: the nation by domestic extremists, according to law enforcement sources 360 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 1: disclosed to CNN. So these these are the two things 361 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: that people are looking into. Initial UH speculation, like of 362 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: the night of the shooting, centered on right wing backlash 363 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: towards a drag show that was set to be held 364 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: that same day at a nearby theater. The drag show 365 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: was shut down as it was going on because the 366 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: power went out. Um, and there was a local a 367 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: local activist made some cryptic comments on their Facebook and 368 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: they then received a police visit the police about it. 369 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,440 Speaker 1: I also like that the this person who who made 370 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: these cryptic posts, um, was also an Army psychological operations officer, 371 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: so they literally worked in pop. Yeah, like her job 372 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: was psyops. And this was the person that that that 373 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: posted about this big tied to the drag Show. So 374 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: take that as as you will. Um. This person's group 375 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: earlier that day had had a protest uh involving armed 376 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: individuals in military gear to to you know, push back 377 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: against the uh the Drag Show. So but but yeah, 378 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: So those are the two threads investigators are looking into. 379 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: Is one accelerationist rhetoric and writings that have gotten more 380 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: popular the past few years. And then two maybe connected 381 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: to this wave of of of like anti queer stuff. 382 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 1: Let's see, um. One what what One interesting kind of 383 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,440 Speaker 1: thing of note is that three weeks before this attack, 384 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: another substation was deliberately disabled in eastern and North Carolina. 385 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: This this this attack happened on Friday, November eleventh. It 386 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: shut down electricity for about twelve thousand homes and businesses. 387 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: Power was restored in a few hours, though this one, 388 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: this one was easier to fix. UM In a statement 389 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: posted on the company's website for a few days after 390 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: the incident, UH they described it as vandalism, and the 391 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: company said that vandal's quote damaged transformers, causing them to 392 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: leak cool into oil. But the statement does not explicitly 393 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: say what the method was. Yeah, and this is again 394 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: not uncommon, because you're trying to like find people who 395 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,399 Speaker 1: might have Like that's part of how you can like 396 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: make a case against people is if you can prove 397 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 1: they know details of the case that aren't publicly possible, 398 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: Like there's a reason why they're not going to say 399 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: what caliber the weapon is or whatever. Yeah, they did 400 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: say it wasn't the same as the one used in 401 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: the Metcalf attack, which was seven six too short. So yes, 402 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: but the gun that was used on the December North 403 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,640 Speaker 1: Carolina attack was different than the case. Things found at 404 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:45,959 Speaker 1: at the doesn't mean much. That does not mean much 405 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: at all. I know there was a lot of initial 406 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: sort of anger and frustration over the use of the 407 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: word vandalism and the initial reporting um I think it's 408 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,920 Speaker 1: fine to use that word because when you don't know 409 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: what happened, all you can see that happened is that 410 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: someone damaged property. We don't know the motivations behind it. 411 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: We don't know that they intended to knock outpower because, 412 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,680 Speaker 1: like we said, sometimes people in the woods just shoot 413 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: it ship because it's it's funny. So I think it's 414 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,480 Speaker 1: fair to not want to use that word. But I 415 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: think in initial reporting, especially from authorities, especially from people 416 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: who could give suit reliable later down the line, the 417 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 1: word vandalism is not incorrect. No, and it's this is 418 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: like I think, if you're at if you want to 419 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: know like what would immediately set some someone off, that 420 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: like something is likely not vandalism or the Metcalf attack 421 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: is good because so much was fired at the transformer. 422 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: I would say if like a thing that would make 423 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: me think maybe this is just some you who sucking 424 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: around is if it's thirty rounds are less fired and 425 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: there's no attempt to actually break onto the facility kind 426 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 1: of a standard capacity magazine. Which the reason why because 427 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: because the North Carolina attack in December did not have 428 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: any rounds. But the reason why it isn't we do 429 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: know it's intentional. Is two substations were hit. Um like 430 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: like one person hit one, then travel and went to another. 431 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: It was like, I just seem like a lot of 432 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,200 Speaker 1: a lot of people sort of expressing this outrage. But 433 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: you know is we're trying these other instance to it, 434 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: you know, the ones in Florida, the ones in Pacific Northwest. 435 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,439 Speaker 1: When we have very little information, it's okay to call 436 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: it vandalism because that's the baseline, right that you don't 437 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: have to if you start using terrorism for every minor incident, 438 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,840 Speaker 1: it it dilutes it. It's not helpful. It creates the 439 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: steria I just wanted to on the table. I mean, 440 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: like so even in like November, the FBI was issuing 441 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,919 Speaker 1: warnings of of of reported threats to electricity infrastructure by 442 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: people espousing racially or ethnically motivated extreme ideologies to quote 443 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: create civil disorder and inspire further violence. So FBI was 444 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: sending bulletins to to private industry um multiple times in 445 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: the past two months. There's been a lot of bulletins 446 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: being sent out, which is I think part of why 447 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,479 Speaker 1: this in the aftermath of the attacks, with all these 448 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: public record requests and more reporting on it where people 449 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: are realizing how much of a thing this actually is. 450 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: Um I think and and and a tax with these 451 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: on on substations or other power grain infrastructure are definitely 452 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: more common than what you might think, and do seem 453 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: to be increasing in frequency on in the in the 454 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: broad sense, and some of some of them are certainly 455 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: have as we know from arrest that have taken place, 456 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: are part of decentralized right wing attempts at an insurrection. 457 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 1: That's not wrong to say, it's just the problem is 458 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: larger and more complicated than that, and to some extent 459 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: it's a problem of like like I I would, I 460 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:48,880 Speaker 1: would be shocked if part of the explanation for why 461 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: this is happening so much more is not that Americans 462 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,879 Speaker 1: have a shipload of guns and during the pandemic people 463 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: were bored and kind of going crazy, like you know, 464 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: people have no chill. Yeah, they have no chill. They're 465 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 1: stuck at home and you're out in the middle of 466 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: nowhere and it's easy to do and you want to 467 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,640 Speaker 1: see something spark. That's part of the problem, right, yeah, 468 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: I mean, and they have an increasing since there's uh, 469 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: there were seventy reports of emergency every electric incidents and 470 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: disturbances caused by suspected physical attacks, sabotage or vandalism from 471 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: January to August two UM. That figure represents increase around 472 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: reports in which is the first year that there's comparable 473 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: data for, and it's it's also worth really noting that 474 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,160 Speaker 1: there is and was. As soon as this happened in Metcalf, 475 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: suggestions were made as to a really easy way to 476 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: make it harder to do this, which would not be 477 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: wildly expensive, which is to put sandbags in front of 478 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: the coolant systems, which will block most conventional rounds. And 479 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: at that point, yeah, not not hard to accomplish, and 480 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: it would also let you know anyone who is going 481 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: to get around those sandbags ideologically committed, right whatever. You 482 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: And the reason why there is so many of these 483 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 1: attacks is because a lot of these very important pieces 484 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: of infrastructure are highly visible and really only protected by 485 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: a chanie link fence. So in a lot of cases, 486 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: an attack can be carried out without even entering any 487 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: kind of restricted grounds. You can point a gun through 488 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,959 Speaker 1: a channe link fence and and do the thing. I mean, 489 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: you can be yeah, hundreds of yards away, right, It's 490 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: very like a three oh eight. You could be easily 491 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: several hundred yards away, out of the range of any camera, 492 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: and you could take enough pot shots to destroy it. 493 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: It has that kind of penetrative power A thirty at 494 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: six you know, yeah, not hunting, right, whether your granddad 495 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: has you know, yeah, anyone who shoots elk regularly could 496 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: do this, you know, without any without without any realistic 497 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: way of catching them if you're out in a rural area. 498 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: I'm kind of shocked that these people actually didn't, like 499 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: in terms of like, I don't know, like there's there's 500 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: this we can talk about this later. But obviously the 501 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,239 Speaker 1: area they're in has a very high concentration of very 502 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: heavily trained people in unconventional warfare. But oh yes we 503 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: should that isn't that is a factor in North Carolina 504 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: that all of this is occurring on the outskirts of 505 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: Fort Bragg, and a year ago people who were active 506 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 1: duty Marines attempted to carry out a similar attack, and 507 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: we're not Do we want to talk about a little 508 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: bit about that, specifically about Robin Sage. Yeah, yeah, I 509 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: think it's relevant, certainly, Like the first thing I thought 510 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: when I thought about this area was like, oh, ship, 511 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: that's right by Southern Pines. I think maybe the show 512 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 1: was supposed to happen in Seven Pines, which is kind 513 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: of central to the United States Army Special Forces community, 514 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: and a few times a year there, people newly qualifying 515 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: to be SF soldiers will do an exercise called Robin Sage. 516 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: It's it's military LARPing. Yeah, well like the terms. Yeah, yes, 517 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 1: it's the military doing laughing, but also not the military, right, 518 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: So like people I'm sure will be familiar, and people 519 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: who enjoy Twitter dot com will be familiar in the 520 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: fact that the United States have sometimes helped rebel movements 521 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: across the world to overthrow a government. So it's the 522 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: thing that it likes to do. It's yeah, it's shocking 523 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: that the yeah, they every revolution, in fact has been 524 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: fermented by the United States and the CIA specifically because 525 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: people can't think for themselves, and so they what they 526 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 1: do in Robin stage is they practice training a rebel 527 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 1: movement that's comprised of civilians, right or untrained fighters. So 528 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 1: these people will go out in small teams in phil 529 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,239 Speaker 1: and then they'll meet a bunch of people who are 530 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: not soldiers. They might be former soldiers, they might be 531 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: local volunteers, there might be people from the area, um 532 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:51,719 Speaker 1: and they will train them for a few days, right, 533 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 1: just like they would if they were actually training up 534 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: like a gorilla army, and then they'll do a simulated 535 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 1: attack which you might recognize us potentially a bad idea, 536 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: which which we now might be seeing as an issue 537 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: because someone someone didn't attack. So like you have in 538 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: that area a ton of SF troops, right, and who 539 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: span the political spectrum, and a ton of randos who 540 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: have been trained by SF troops in guerrilla warfare, right. 541 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: Unconventional warfare is what they call it. And if you 542 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: were doing unconventional warfare, this would be a very effective 543 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: thing to do, right. That's why there's been this massive 544 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: panic about cyber attacks on the grid, especially since the 545 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: start of the war in Ukraine. Very funny we panicked 546 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: about cyber attacks from the fact you could just go 547 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: shoot it. You don't need to be that complex. But 548 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: that's right, it's a weak point and and you would 549 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: know that if you've been practicing unconventional warfare, and so 550 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: like this happening in this very specific area kind of 551 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,840 Speaker 1: racing flags from me. It's not super weird that this 552 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: is the second time in the course of a year 553 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: that there's been an attempt or successful attack on North 554 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: Carolina power infrastructure. Right, Like, it's not supplied, it's this 555 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,440 Speaker 1: is this is at the very least the DHS is 556 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 1: not surprised about this. Earlier this year, they've they have 557 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: issued many alerts warning that domestic rylan extremists are gonna 558 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: are are planning to target the power grid. UM in 559 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: February three people like to plead guilty, which we already 560 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,480 Speaker 1: talked about. UM, there was those people arrested in Idaho. 561 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: They were planning attacks on on power stations and highlighting, 562 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: highlighting locations of transformers and other substations and other power 563 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: infrastructure and planning to take them out and then using 564 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 1: the black oats to go do other crimes, including assassinating 565 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: ideological opponents. So like, there's there's been a lot of 566 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of extra focus on people's plans 567 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: to do infrastructure attacks and uh, you know plans on like, hey, 568 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: this seems like a problem, and people have been talking 569 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: about it more because it does seem to there isn't 570 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,480 Speaker 1: at least increasingly high, high high profile cases UM and 571 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: at least in the case of this past one in 572 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: North Carolina. The d the DHS is currently saying that 573 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: it does appear to be deliberate UM and they're they're 574 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: investigating to see if it's if it is tied to 575 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: ideological motives UM. But again it's it is worth emphasizing 576 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: that not all of these things are are these types 577 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: of incidents. Think an example of something that I think 578 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 1: has been misreported on is this recent attack or it's 579 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: not an attack, but it's been reported as an attack 580 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: in South Carolina UM on December seventh, there was an 581 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: individual in a truck that opened fire near a a 582 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: Dooke Energy facility. UM employees witnessed this truck pull up. 583 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 1: It was around five thirty pm UH. This guy opened 584 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: fire and what appeared to be a long gun and 585 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: then sped away. No one was hurt, there was no outages, 586 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: there was no reported property damage. UM and currently sheriffs 587 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 1: are saying that this was that this was a completely 588 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: random act that was that wasn't even targeted at the 589 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: power station. They said that the only connection between this 590 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: shooting and the power station was their proximity. This wasn't 591 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: an actual attack on a power station. Is this just 592 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: a coincidence? But because this was a few days after 593 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,839 Speaker 1: this attack in North Carolina, people can read headlines about 594 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: someone shooting outside of power station in South Carolina and 595 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: get turned into this big thing and you're like, that's 596 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: actually not what's going on. You need to look a 597 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: little bit closer. Similarly with this stuff in Florida. Uh, 598 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,320 Speaker 1: you know, there's been a lot of retroactively, you know, 599 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 1: trying to apply this this this accelerationist idea onto those 600 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:37,279 Speaker 1: onto those instances as well, when there's simply not the evidence. Yeah, 601 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 1: it's um. One of the things you have to, like, 602 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: as talking about the fat the folks who are like 603 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 1: insurrection ary, one of the force multipliers they have is 604 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,800 Speaker 1: that the United States has a tremendous amount of people 605 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 1: who are just assholes and have guns, um, and that 606 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: that's just their own guns, guns they stole from the military. 607 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,279 Speaker 1: That that is also a factor specific. A lot of 608 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,759 Speaker 1: James point about the proximity to Fort Bragg though you 609 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: know Fort Bragg and Campbell June obviously different branch of 610 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:07,840 Speaker 1: the military, different parts of the state of North Carolina. 611 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,239 Speaker 1: But you know, there was that attack last month. It 612 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: was near Camp ll June. We have the Camp La 613 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: June cell that was wrapped up. They're actually still awaiting 614 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: trial on the third superseding indictment. And they were stealing guns, right, 615 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,280 Speaker 1: or at least that's how they got cans from the military. 616 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 1: The initial indictment was for illegal for trafficking any illegal guns. Yeah. Yeah, 617 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: the marine caught lost a ton of plastic explosive at 618 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:34,640 Speaker 1: twenty nine palms last year as well, like a very 619 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: large amount, which is is concerning, Yeah, a startling quantity 620 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: of high explosives. Right, And so I was combing cantors 621 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: for anything mentioning Fort Bragg looking for other cases related 622 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,960 Speaker 1: to this specific Geogho area because the More County is 623 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 1: literally right outside Fort Brag, which is where the U. S. 624 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: Army Special Horses um are are hanging out. And so 625 00:35:57,719 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: this would not be the first time we had radicalized 626 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,439 Speaker 1: soldiers out to four Brag. I mean, you go back 627 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,880 Speaker 1: to the eighties, Michael Tubbs, a founding member of the 628 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: League of the South, did his first terrorism when he 629 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 1: and some other Special Forces buddies committed armed robbery of 630 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: machine guns from the Army for the Clan with the 631 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 1: intention of using them to start a race war. But 632 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: then in August of this year, a Special Forces soldier 633 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:26,320 Speaker 1: named Killian Ryan was indicted for lying on his security 634 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,280 Speaker 1: clearance application. He had already been granted a security clearance. 635 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,759 Speaker 1: Mind you, he had been granted this clearance. Um, but 636 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 1: it turns out he was a Nazi. I don't know 637 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: how the security clearance process didn't catch the fact that 638 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: his email address was Nazi ace fourteen eight at gmail 639 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: dot com. That he catch that, and sometimes sometimes it's 640 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: sometimes it's it's hard to check. You know, there's lots 641 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 1: of civil mistakes that anyone could make. Anybody can make 642 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: this kind of this thing. So you know, you see, 643 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: this wasn't a surprise to DHS, and it shouldn't be. 644 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: These are their mistakes. UM. I also did want to note, 645 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: as we're talking about these Special Forces guys and the 646 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: potential of them being radicalized, there's also Timothy McVeigh or well, 647 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: Timothy McVeigh was regular army, Um, but he washed out 648 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: a Special Forces. Yeah he didn't quite make it, um. 649 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:29,400 Speaker 1: But what's his name? Yeah? Um, yeah, there's this is 650 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:33,359 Speaker 1: this is like not a this is not an uncommon thing. 651 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,680 Speaker 1: I currently writing a story that includes a large section 652 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:42,839 Speaker 1: about a marine that tried to steal equipment, uh from 653 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,839 Speaker 1: military bases to then go do a mass shooting at 654 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: a synagogue. Um. And this guy has what was a 655 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 1: Nazi before he joined the Marines. He shot on the 656 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: Marines until we figured out what's going on. We have 657 00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,120 Speaker 1: got to shut this down until we figured out what's 658 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,920 Speaker 1: going on. Yeah, and you've got Eric Rudolph, the guy 659 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,799 Speaker 1: he's carried out the Olympic Park bombings in nineties six. 660 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 1: Was was with the first Airborne Division. He was an 661 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,160 Speaker 1: air assault specialist. UM and he carried out the bombing 662 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,480 Speaker 1: of the Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, and then went 663 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,640 Speaker 1: on the run for months. I think, Yeah, and he 664 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 1: was a Nazi by the way, Oh it was. He 665 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: was on the run for a long time. He all 666 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,920 Speaker 1: the squirrel and nuting he did in the woods, yes, uh. 667 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:30,759 Speaker 1: And by the way, he carried out a number of 668 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,839 Speaker 1: other bombings, including a bomb he carried out a bombing 669 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 1: of an abortion clinic. He carried out the bombing of 670 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: a lesbian bar. We talked about this earlier this year 671 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:43,839 Speaker 1: on Yeah. We did part of one of our mini 672 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,719 Speaker 1: series we talked about this guy. We had we had 673 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: we had a whole episode dedicated to him. I do 674 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,200 Speaker 1: want to briefly talk about some of the stuff happening 675 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 1: in the Pacific Northwest as well, and how this ties 676 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,320 Speaker 1: in and how there is as opposed to some of 677 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 1: the incidents that were like the incident in South Carolina. 678 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,200 Speaker 1: Stuff in the Pacific Northwest, while happening previous to the 679 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: North Carolina attack, does seem to be deliberate um and 680 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: has There has been some interesting pieces of information that 681 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,320 Speaker 1: have come out in the past few days. So the 682 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 1: electrical grid has been physically attacked at least six times 683 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,839 Speaker 1: in Oregon and western Washington since mid November. Attackers used 684 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:21,880 Speaker 1: firearms and at least some of the incidents in both states, 685 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: and some power customers in Oregon and Washington experienced at 686 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: least brief service disruptions as a result of the attacks. 687 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,280 Speaker 1: Just two days before the North Carolina attacks, the FBI 688 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,760 Speaker 1: and Organs Tighten Fusion Center issued a memo that warned 689 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: utilities about this about both these recent attacks and how 690 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,439 Speaker 1: there could be more of them, uh, saying quote. Power 691 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 1: companies in Oregon Washington have reported physical attacks on substations 692 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:53,040 Speaker 1: using hand tools, arson, firearms, and metal chains, possibly in 693 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,120 Speaker 1: response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure. 694 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 1: Uh continuing to say that in recent attacks, criminal actors 695 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,760 Speaker 1: by passed security fences by cutting the fence links, lighting 696 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,320 Speaker 1: nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance, or throwing objects 697 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: over the fence and on too. The equipment and the aim, 698 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: according to memo is quote violent anti government criminal attack, 699 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:20,279 Speaker 1: which is kind of a catch all term that these 700 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,959 Speaker 1: people use for a whole bunch of kind of white 701 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 1: supremacists affiliated accelerationist violence. It's kind of a silly term 702 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,319 Speaker 1: because these people really aren't anti government. They just they 703 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 1: just want they're anti this government because they think this 704 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,000 Speaker 1: government is too liberal. Um. But but yeah, so there 705 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,239 Speaker 1: was there was an attack on a substation in Clackumus 706 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,800 Speaker 1: County on Thanksgiving morning. The power company calls this a 707 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,279 Speaker 1: deliberate physical attack. Um. This is the one where two 708 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,319 Speaker 1: people cut through fences and use firearms to shoot up 709 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:57,520 Speaker 1: and disabled numerous pieces of of equipment. A security specialist 710 00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,800 Speaker 1: for the company wrote this kind of brief on it 711 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 1: and and and has mentioned how that there are local 712 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,360 Speaker 1: people who are affiliated with you know, larger networks of 713 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,719 Speaker 1: extremist groups that have called for such attacks and have 714 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,839 Speaker 1: provided instructions on how to do these types of things 715 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,239 Speaker 1: UM and saying, quote, there's been a significant uptick in 716 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 1: incidence of break ins related to copper and tool or 717 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,360 Speaker 1: materials theft, but now we are dealing with quickly escalating 718 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: incidents of sabotage. UM. So that's the kind of that 719 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,480 Speaker 1: that's that's the brief from the security security specialist who 720 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 1: works at this power company. UM. Four days after that 721 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,440 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving morning attack, there was another incident at a Portland 722 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: General Electric substation, also in the clack of this area. 723 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,320 Speaker 1: So these things happened pretty close to one another in 724 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,840 Speaker 1: the same county. Some of the same people were affected. 725 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:47,880 Speaker 1: A few details on this one have been released UM, 726 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: but the PG and E team said that, quote, our 727 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,200 Speaker 1: teams have assessed the damage and have begun to repair 728 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 1: the impacted facilities. Knocking out the lights is it can 729 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,360 Speaker 1: be an end goal, right that everyone it's it's darkness. 730 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:04,280 Speaker 1: Everyone's inconvenience, and there's an idea that you know, making 731 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: things worse will help fence sitters radicalized towards towards the 732 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,680 Speaker 1: right and become acceleration as themselves. But the darkness, it's 733 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:15,000 Speaker 1: not its own end goal for some of these people, 734 00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:17,400 Speaker 1: you know, in the the Campbella June cell in the 735 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 1: Collins case, they specifically spelled out in some of their 736 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,680 Speaker 1: planning discussions that the darkness was stepped one. Once the 737 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,560 Speaker 1: lights were out, once infrastructure was damaged, the police were distracted, 738 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,279 Speaker 1: communications were down, people couldn't use their cell phones. They 739 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:33,800 Speaker 1: would use that period of chaos to carry out a 740 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: series of targeted assassinations. And that's not a new idea either. UM. 741 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 1: I found a case from the nineties even UM this 742 00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:46,239 Speaker 1: case from the late nineties, the North American Militia, It 743 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,200 Speaker 1: was a splinter group from the Michigan Militia Wolverines Randy 744 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:52,880 Speaker 1: Graham and Ken Carter went down. In this case, UM, 745 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:57,840 Speaker 1: they were reconning targets including power stations, TV stations, and 746 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,279 Speaker 1: military based federal buildings, and their plan was to knock 747 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:04,400 Speaker 1: out communications and power and use that period of chaos 748 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,440 Speaker 1: to kill several federal judges and politicians. So this is 749 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,840 Speaker 1: a recurring theme. You know that this case was in 750 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:11,360 Speaker 1: the nineties, and then we have that recent case, the 751 00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 1: Collins case. Those guys haven't even been tried yet, UM, 752 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,120 Speaker 1: and the stated intention is to use that period of 753 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: chaos to do additional crimes of terrorism. And I mean 754 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 1: there has been more incidents that definitely do seem to 755 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: be intentional, Like beyond the ones in Oregon, there was 756 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:30,240 Speaker 1: also ones in western Washington, UM that that included setting 757 00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: the control houses on fire force entry and sabotage of 758 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:37,760 Speaker 1: intricate electrical control systems, causing short circuits by tossing chains 759 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:41,320 Speaker 1: over the overhead bus work, and a ballistic attack with 760 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,520 Speaker 1: small caliber firearms. And so that's that's a lot of 761 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: stuff going into uh of like like in terms of 762 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,560 Speaker 1: planning and preparation going into something that's happening. That's a 763 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,600 Speaker 1: perfect example. Yeah, And if you're, as a general rule, 764 00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: if you are encountering one of these stories and you're 765 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,839 Speaker 1: trying to determine should I put this in my head 766 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,960 Speaker 1: as something that is maybe part of something bigger or 767 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,839 Speaker 1: something that might be people fucking around? That's the kind 768 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: of stuff to look for is like how much effort 769 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,000 Speaker 1: went into it, how elaborate was it? Does it seem 770 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,200 Speaker 1: like planning was involved? I would say Another thing is 771 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: like does it seem is it timed for something like Thanksgiving? Right? 772 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:20,960 Speaker 1: Like it's not an accident that they picked Thanksgiving to 773 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,239 Speaker 1: attack a substation, because if you're trying to do something 774 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,080 Speaker 1: that's going to have an impact, doing it on a 775 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,440 Speaker 1: day like that where everybody's at home, people are and 776 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,439 Speaker 1: there's also a higher power draw in general, Like, there's 777 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:33,360 Speaker 1: a lot of reasons why someone would want to do that, 778 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,319 Speaker 1: but it all points towards this is something that's part 779 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:40,440 Speaker 1: of an organized set of actions, as opposed to the 780 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:44,400 Speaker 1: normal thing of Americans attacking their own power infrastructure for 781 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:49,400 Speaker 1: no good reason. Yeah, which we love to do. Do 782 00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:50,960 Speaker 1: you do you know? Do you know what else we 783 00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,720 Speaker 1: we love to do? Robert consume goods and services Gars, 784 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:58,799 Speaker 1: that's right, we love we love hogs and our hero 785 00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:03,040 Speaker 1: based Lasso King would say that's part of the problem. Hey, 786 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:07,399 Speaker 1: we're back, all right, Garrison, take us, Take us home, 787 00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:13,480 Speaker 1: which hopefully is not Fort Bragg. No, yeah, yeah, this 788 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:18,320 Speaker 1: podcast is run by the USA. Talk Yeah hopefully hopefully 789 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,280 Speaker 1: not so so. Yeah. The past year, we've seen federal 790 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 1: authorities multiple times worn about these types of threats to 791 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:29,799 Speaker 1: critical infrastructure. There was a local bulletin posted in late 792 00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,280 Speaker 1: November after the attacks in Oregon and Washington, UH saying 793 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:37,680 Speaker 1: that the targets of potential violence includes public gatherings, faith 794 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:42,480 Speaker 1: based institutions, l g B, t Q plus communities, UM schools, 795 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,759 Speaker 1: racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, and US 796 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:51,440 Speaker 1: critical infrastructure. So it's it's definitely, it's definitely something that 797 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,640 Speaker 1: are the people are talking about more as incidents have 798 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:58,359 Speaker 1: have do do seem to be getting more common. Um, 799 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:00,640 Speaker 1: now I'm gonna I'm gonna gonna use some of the 800 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:05,400 Speaker 1: research from a not an article, but I guess not 801 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:07,799 Speaker 1: quite a study like this. Uh, I don't know how 802 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:10,839 Speaker 1: to describe it in an analysis piece. I guess from 803 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:15,919 Speaker 1: George Washington University's Program on Extremism entitled Mayhem a Murder 804 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:20,440 Speaker 1: and Misdirection Violent extremist attack plots against critical infrastructure in 805 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:25,600 Speaker 1: the United States. So since twenty nineteen, w spremacist attacks 806 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 1: and plots against critical infrastructure. Uh, you do seem to 807 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:36,120 Speaker 1: have distinctly increased Between two White spermacis plots targeting energy 808 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:41,279 Speaker 1: systems dramatically increased in their frequency. Thirteen individuals associated with 809 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 1: the overall White spermacist movement were arrested and charged in 810 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,240 Speaker 1: federal court with planning attacks on the energy sector. Eleven 811 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:52,400 Speaker 1: of these attack planners were charged after the rise of 812 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:56,160 Speaker 1: eccelorationist ideology and doctrine during the past decade did likely 813 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 1: fuel these increased attacks UM within the white from assist 814 00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:03,279 Speaker 1: mill use that are targeting critical infrastructure and and the 815 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:06,759 Speaker 1: energy sector in particular. So if if you look at 816 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,080 Speaker 1: the data from two if you look at ninety four 817 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,840 Speaker 1: cases of individuals who are alleged to have planned quote 818 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:19,440 Speaker 1: violent extremist attacks UH, fifty of those people identified as 819 00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,719 Speaker 1: white supremacists, and thirty seven percent of those incidents involved 820 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:29,640 Speaker 1: some level of planning UH, specifically planning attacks on critical infrastructure. Now, 821 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:35,320 Speaker 1: six of those sixteen white supremacist plotters had discernible tangible 822 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:39,319 Speaker 1: connections to named groups and organizations like the base Attamwafen 823 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:43,320 Speaker 1: Division and the National Socialist Movement. And but and fourteen 824 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:46,800 Speaker 1: out of the sixteen people were known participants in a 825 00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:52,240 Speaker 1: greater kind of online network that connects various like cells 826 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 1: or even just aesthetic styles common among the neo Nazis 827 00:47:56,160 --> 00:48:00,640 Speaker 1: accelerationist movement. So and one of the more kind of 828 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:04,240 Speaker 1: interesting data points is the number of white sermacist plots 829 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,520 Speaker 1: that are specifically focused on the energy sector relating to 830 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:12,080 Speaker 1: nuclear reactors, materials, UM with the waste sector and of 831 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:16,600 Speaker 1: course power substations. UH. There's thirteen thirteen cases of individuals 832 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,960 Speaker 1: who reportedly planned to conduct attacks on a variety of 833 00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:23,359 Speaker 1: energy infrastructure, from small assaults on local on local power 834 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,480 Speaker 1: lines to potentially devastating attacks on power grids or even 835 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:31,040 Speaker 1: nuclear facilities and UH and those represent eight seven percent 836 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,960 Speaker 1: of the white sermacist related cases in which critical infstructure 837 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,439 Speaker 1: was targeted. So most of that is specifically on power 838 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:40,239 Speaker 1: grids like that's that is that is what these focus on. 839 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,960 Speaker 1: And the first case within this data point range of 840 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:49,160 Speaker 1: two UH dates back to seventeen when a former Florida 841 00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:53,239 Speaker 1: National Guardsman and the founder of Adam Often Division was 842 00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,239 Speaker 1: arrested in Florida and charged with UM, you know, a 843 00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,880 Speaker 1: lawful possession of FLOS advices and floser materials. UH. They 844 00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,440 Speaker 1: one of one of one of this guy's roommates, who 845 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:07,960 Speaker 1: was also a member of Adam Often told told jurors 846 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,640 Speaker 1: that this guy intended to target a number of different 847 00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:14,360 Speaker 1: locations for explosive attacks using this material, including a Jewish synagogue, 848 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: power lines, and a new and a nearby nuclear reactor site. UM. 849 00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:22,279 Speaker 1: And this guy in his apartment had had a propaganda 850 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:26,160 Speaker 1: and and book materials on the functioning nuclear reactors and 851 00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:29,719 Speaker 1: other power supply stuff. So like, you know, that's these 852 00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,520 Speaker 1: types of things that people study on and then plan 853 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,040 Speaker 1: out to do. And what we're seeing more commonly now 854 00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:39,400 Speaker 1: is of very intensive propaganda team putting together kind of 855 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,520 Speaker 1: manuals on how to do these types of things, both 856 00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:45,440 Speaker 1: both like both for like to inspire you to do it, 857 00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:48,359 Speaker 1: but also like instruction manuals and like here's here's where 858 00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,000 Speaker 1: you should shoot. Here's like here's how to actually do it, 859 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:57,239 Speaker 1: and it's it's there unfortunately designed quite well. And that's 860 00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 1: something that is newer that is a direct product of 861 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:06,840 Speaker 1: the types of aesthetically driven uh propaganda that has flourished 862 00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:10,799 Speaker 1: on sites like Telegram, and they're they're getting quite good 863 00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:14,000 Speaker 1: at making propaganda. It's not just it's not just you know, 864 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:19,239 Speaker 1: random random books strewn upon your apartment anymore. It's very 865 00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:24,680 Speaker 1: well made documents on how online. So they're the three 866 00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:27,640 Speaker 1: men who just pleaded guilty in February for their their 867 00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:31,440 Speaker 1: conspiracy to attack power facilities. Um one of those men, 868 00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,880 Speaker 1: Jackson Saywall. In the the original complaint, it says, you know, 869 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:39,560 Speaker 1: um Cook had recruited his friends, say Well to join 870 00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:42,880 Speaker 1: the cause. From the outset, Cook believed say walls graphic 871 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:46,040 Speaker 1: design skills could be an asset to the group's propaganda effort, 872 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:49,040 Speaker 1: so he was recruited to the cell because he was 873 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,520 Speaker 1: good at graphic design. Now I've read these manifestos, I 874 00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:53,680 Speaker 1: would not say the graphic design is good, but it's 875 00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,160 Speaker 1: certainly better than sort of a cut and paste scene. Right. 876 00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:59,520 Speaker 1: There's a clear digital design element here, um, and that's 877 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:02,120 Speaker 1: on this and they know that that's how they're going 878 00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:03,640 Speaker 1: to get eyes on this stuff. I mean, Robert, we 879 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,359 Speaker 1: both read all those manifestos in the last couple of days. 880 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:10,120 Speaker 1: They are certainly a step up. They are what they 881 00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:12,680 Speaker 1: what they make me think of is when I first 882 00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:15,520 Speaker 1: when I first got into reporting on extremism, it was 883 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:18,440 Speaker 1: because I went through every issue of like Isis magazine 884 00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:23,520 Speaker 1: debat right after the BOTA Clon attacks and it's number one. 885 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:26,080 Speaker 1: Like there was when that Adam Waffan guy killed his 886 00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:29,239 Speaker 1: roommates and he had converted to Islam and was like 887 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,920 Speaker 1: very much um into Isis. There was this like surprise 888 00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:34,840 Speaker 1: from people who don't think a lot about this stuff. 889 00:51:35,239 --> 00:51:36,800 Speaker 1: But a lot of these guys had a lot of 890 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 1: admiration for the way that ICE has put together their 891 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:43,680 Speaker 1: propaganda campaign, which included a lot of very detailed guides 892 00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:46,000 Speaker 1: for how to do things like carry out rent vehicles 893 00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:49,279 Speaker 1: and carry out vehicular attacks. Right like this is um, 894 00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,719 Speaker 1: you know, we're this is the way terrorism works, and 895 00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:55,960 Speaker 1: these guys are taking a little bit of a different tack. 896 00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:58,640 Speaker 1: But again not that like as as Molly pointed out, 897 00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,439 Speaker 1: there were a number of this inspired attacks on power 898 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:04,919 Speaker 1: infrastructure just didn't get a ton of of of play. 899 00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:07,120 Speaker 1: But like, none of this is like, all of this 900 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:09,600 Speaker 1: is is in line with the trends that we have 901 00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:14,200 Speaker 1: seen globally in the way in which insurgent movements function. 902 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: And I think you know this well produced easily spread 903 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:20,600 Speaker 1: propaganda and these online networks that they created to spread 904 00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:23,520 Speaker 1: this propaganda. I mean that we're not just you know, 905 00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:26,120 Speaker 1: we have these cases of these organized cells that got caught, 906 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:29,120 Speaker 1: but it's not just organized cells that have the capacity 907 00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:31,239 Speaker 1: to carry out these attacks, because any idiot in the 908 00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:35,600 Speaker 1: Telegram group can open that manifesto with the detailed instructions 909 00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:40,320 Speaker 1: for carrying out an identical attacked disseminates and becomes contagious 910 00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,160 Speaker 1: there's this, there's this people who talk about a lot 911 00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,719 Speaker 1: online now about stochastic terrorism, and some of us here 912 00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:48,440 Speaker 1: might be a little bit to blame to that, but 913 00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:51,680 Speaker 1: a lot of times they're they're getting it wrong. Um, 914 00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,800 Speaker 1: because what's what what these Nazis are doing. This is 915 00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:57,319 Speaker 1: inspirational terrorism, which has been a thing for as long 916 00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,400 Speaker 1: as terrorism has existed. When people under I mean, that's 917 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:03,080 Speaker 1: why they have their calendar of Saints, you know, yeah, exactly. 918 00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:04,560 Speaker 1: And there's a lot of debate about, like whendy U 919 00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:06,800 Speaker 1: stochastic terrorism, but kind of in my mind, when I 920 00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:09,200 Speaker 1: tend to think it's appropriate is when the attempt is 921 00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:13,120 Speaker 1: to kind of use the way algorithms on various sights 922 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:15,719 Speaker 1: on the Internet work to spread propaganda that's meant to 923 00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:19,080 Speaker 1: cause that's meant to inspire attacks, because that is it's 924 00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:22,680 Speaker 1: a type of inspirational terrorism. But it's it's it's clearly 925 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:25,440 Speaker 1: a new evolution of it because of its reliance on 926 00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:27,680 Speaker 1: those networks. But this is again we're getting into the weeds. 927 00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:29,440 Speaker 1: Is there anything else you wanted to kind of get 928 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:31,960 Speaker 1: into here, Garrison? I mean no, I kind of I 929 00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:33,880 Speaker 1: kind of wanted to wrap up by talking about some 930 00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,319 Speaker 1: of the terrogram stuff. So I think we we kind 931 00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:37,840 Speaker 1: of we kind of hit on a lot of stuff 932 00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:40,440 Speaker 1: that I that I wanted to mention. I mean, in 933 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:44,600 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, two years after that first uh that that 934 00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,040 Speaker 1: that that first attack of twenty seventeen, two years later 935 00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:52,520 Speaker 1: uh bew Maryman was was arrested for planning to blow 936 00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:56,759 Speaker 1: up power grid substations. He was member of Adam Offen Um. 937 00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:59,320 Speaker 1: And we already are we already talked about we already 938 00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:01,520 Speaker 1: talked about the two other kind of main instance that 939 00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:06,080 Speaker 1: are well known of from and then stuff that is 940 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:09,400 Speaker 1: that that just got um uh there was there was 941 00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:13,239 Speaker 1: court cases as recently February two. We also mentioned in 942 00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:16,080 Speaker 1: terms of the their their plans to take out power 943 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:19,320 Speaker 1: stations to then carry out assassinations. So those are the 944 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,839 Speaker 1: two other instants that I wanted to mention um. But yeah, 945 00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:26,320 Speaker 1: I mean it's I think the the other kind of 946 00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:29,040 Speaker 1: aesthetic similarity I think is that I think we actually 947 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,800 Speaker 1: are seeing some of the some of the recent telegram 948 00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,719 Speaker 1: stuff also take cues from not only like isis and 949 00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:38,239 Speaker 1: is not terrorism, but also some of the types of 950 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:42,200 Speaker 1: anarchist writing that have that have has gotten more popular 951 00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:46,319 Speaker 1: since you know, uh, the left type stuff like where 952 00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:49,040 Speaker 1: I think we're seeing some of some of the aesthetic 953 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:53,440 Speaker 1: stylings feels very reminiscent of like early crime think, um, 954 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,200 Speaker 1: some of it, some of it is is similar to 955 00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:00,640 Speaker 1: things around um the types of like eco sabotage manuals 956 00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:03,280 Speaker 1: that that were that were very popular in the nineties 957 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:06,280 Speaker 1: and two thousands. Um. You know, some of the techniques 958 00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:11,520 Speaker 1: are very similar because both eco terrorists and uh excelration 959 00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:15,680 Speaker 1: accelerationist nazis both find value and attacking things like powers 960 00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:20,799 Speaker 1: and powers, power substations, UM, or you know, burning down 961 00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:24,200 Speaker 1: five G towers. That's a big emphasis of this recent 962 00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:29,160 Speaker 1: like almost three hundred page manifesto, and in instruction manuals 963 00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:31,719 Speaker 1: they focus a lot on how, you know, in early 964 00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:36,440 Speaker 1: regular people felt inspired to burn down five G towers, 965 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:39,920 Speaker 1: people who are not otherwise extremists, and how how do 966 00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:43,320 Speaker 1: we get people who are regular people to get to 967 00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:47,560 Speaker 1: that point where they're willing to damage public infrastructure. And 968 00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:49,440 Speaker 1: that's kind of a lot what a lot of what 969 00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:53,280 Speaker 1: that three hundred page kind of manifesto slash manual tries 970 00:55:53,320 --> 00:56:00,799 Speaker 1: to talk about. Mum. It's uh, it's if we want 971 00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:03,239 Speaker 1: to end on on a hopeful. Note. I have at 972 00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:06,000 Speaker 1: least sort of a small bright spot for us UM. 973 00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:09,320 Speaker 1: It's in the original UM affidavit for the search warrant 974 00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:14,080 Speaker 1: into Liam Collins, the head of the Camp Lejune cell Um, 975 00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:17,000 Speaker 1: so that a regional affidavit for the search warrant um 976 00:56:17,080 --> 00:56:20,919 Speaker 1: in his case. The FBI agent writing the affidavit says 977 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,960 Speaker 1: that they first started looking into Collins because he was 978 00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:27,400 Speaker 1: docked in the Iron March leagues. So they were we 979 00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:29,719 Speaker 1: were reading those dockses and they said, oh wow, a 980 00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:32,759 Speaker 1: marine who's a Nazi. We should talk to him. So, 981 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,439 Speaker 1: you know, when doing this work in identifying these people 982 00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,240 Speaker 1: from these leagues and sort of the slog of picking 983 00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:41,680 Speaker 1: through like maybe this guy's a fucking nobody, but we 984 00:56:41,719 --> 00:56:44,000 Speaker 1: will identify them so their communities can keep an eye 985 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:47,600 Speaker 1: on them. That work matters. That work made it into Newsweek, 986 00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:49,959 Speaker 1: and it made it to the FBI. It's a weird 987 00:56:50,080 --> 00:56:52,680 Speaker 1: filter system, but eventually this guy got caught before he 988 00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:57,520 Speaker 1: committed a massive nationwide active terror. So keep doxy Nazis 989 00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:00,520 Speaker 1: and it works. In a similar incident, there was an 990 00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:04,520 Speaker 1: officer of the Lafayette Police Department that joined I believe 991 00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 1: this this exact same terrorist cell that was then Doc 992 00:57:08,719 --> 00:57:11,880 Speaker 1: he was he was he was docked by anti fascists 993 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:17,120 Speaker 1: and then he turned and snitched on his fellow Nazis. UM. 994 00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:20,600 Speaker 1: So the investigation opened because of the docks and they've 995 00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:23,680 Speaker 1: got a powerful cooperating witness because of another docks. It 996 00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:26,439 Speaker 1: makes them nervous if eyes are on them, they can't 997 00:57:26,520 --> 00:57:29,640 Speaker 1: conduct covert operations. So keep docs in your local Nazis 998 00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,560 Speaker 1: like it can it can literally be like in terms 999 00:57:33,600 --> 00:57:37,120 Speaker 1: of these cells planning to do assassinations of people, it 1000 00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:39,680 Speaker 1: can actually save people's lives if these people are actually 1001 00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:43,000 Speaker 1: serious and are willing to carry out their plans that 1002 00:57:43,080 --> 00:57:46,280 Speaker 1: they are you know, actively training for actively preparing materials 1003 00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:49,360 Speaker 1: for UM. This type of work is is some of 1004 00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:52,760 Speaker 1: the most solid anti fascist research that people of that 1005 00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:55,520 Speaker 1: people have done. It absolutely saved lives. Yeah, I've no 1006 00:57:55,600 --> 00:57:59,400 Speaker 1: doubt about that. Will continue to save lives. So Docs Nazis. 1007 00:57:59,760 --> 00:58:03,400 Speaker 1: And you know, if if you're drunk out in the 1008 00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,000 Speaker 1: woods and one of your buddies says, hey, why don't 1009 00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:11,120 Speaker 1: we shoot a power substation, don't do it. Just can 1010 00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:15,880 Speaker 1: stop signs. It's the America. Stop signs. Expired fire extinguishers, 1011 00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:18,240 Speaker 1: those are fun to shoot. Let me all of the 1012 00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,360 Speaker 1: ant people turn off this podcast in a and the 1013 00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:27,680 Speaker 1: and then have a moral crisis. So yeah, uh to 1014 00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:30,080 Speaker 1: the anti cit people who have built a radio out 1015 00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:37,160 Speaker 1: of sticks, I realized that podcasts don't come out through 1016 00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:51,480 Speaker 1: the radio. Tragic anyway the episode, so you think, hi everyone, 1017 00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:54,320 Speaker 1: it's James. I just wanted to explain why you're only 1018 00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:56,200 Speaker 1: going to hear my voice in the first episode, but 1019 00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:58,520 Speaker 1: you're going to hear Garrison any other episodes as well. 1020 00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:01,600 Speaker 1: And that's because I would to Tonatius Unicorn Ranch twice, 1021 00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:04,400 Speaker 1: once during the period that we're going to call the siege, 1022 00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:07,920 Speaker 1: and once again in the summer. And so the part 1023 00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:10,120 Speaker 1: that only I experienced only I'm going to talk about. 1024 00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:11,600 Speaker 1: We felt that was the most honest way to do it. 1025 00:59:11,920 --> 00:59:13,320 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy it. I have worked on this 1026 00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:21,120 Speaker 1: for a very long time. Hard scrabbled pass in southern 1027 00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:23,720 Speaker 1: Colorado in the winter. It's not where you'd expect to 1028 00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:27,120 Speaker 1: start a story that's fundamentally about the Internet, but it's 1029 00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:28,720 Speaker 1: where a four wheels lit a rental car in the 1030 00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:32,360 Speaker 1: spring of If you remember, back then, Biden had just 1031 00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:36,280 Speaker 1: been inaugurated, some chads had stormed the Capitol, and vaccines 1032 00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:40,600 Speaker 1: were gradually being administered across the country less Remarkably frontier 1033 00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:42,600 Speaker 1: air lines are taken forever to find my damn bag, 1034 00:59:42,880 --> 00:59:46,280 Speaker 1: and I was trying to get there before dark, about 1035 00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:48,800 Speaker 1: a week before. It's in a tweet, I foughtow this 1036 00:59:48,840 --> 00:59:50,880 Speaker 1: Anatis Unicorn ranch because I grew up as a farm 1037 00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:54,160 Speaker 1: kid who didn't really slide quite as easily as others 1038 00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:57,560 Speaker 1: did into the super matcho stuff, and I certainly didn't 1039 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:01,480 Speaker 1: slide anywhere near conservative politics. What the ranches were doing 1040 01:00:02,080 --> 01:00:04,600 Speaker 1: building a queer haven and anarchistyle pack of farming co 1041 01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:07,440 Speaker 1: op inspired me. I've been missing country life a lot 1042 01:00:07,560 --> 01:00:09,880 Speaker 1: during the pandemic, and they wanted to get out onto 1043 01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:13,680 Speaker 1: the ranch. But that wasn't really why I was driving 1044 01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:16,240 Speaker 1: an appropriate rittle car through a white out. I was 1045 01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:18,960 Speaker 1: doing that because I've seen this tweet, and that tweet 1046 01:00:19,120 --> 01:00:22,280 Speaker 1: said the ranches under attack and they needed help. That 1047 01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:26,080 Speaker 1: Tenacious Unicorn ranches under attack by local biggots and militia. 1048 01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:29,760 Speaker 1: They have threatened violence publicly to us and those that 1049 01:00:29,880 --> 01:00:32,600 Speaker 1: help or associate with us. They have encroached on our 1050 01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:36,320 Speaker 1: property armed at night, with the intent to harm those 1051 01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:39,400 Speaker 1: of us that live here. We need help. That's where 1052 01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:41,920 Speaker 1: this story starts for me. It's where the story starts 1053 01:00:41,920 --> 01:00:43,800 Speaker 1: for a few characters you're going to hear this week, 1054 01:00:44,240 --> 01:00:47,280 Speaker 1: but it's not where the story really starts. It starts 1055 01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:50,480 Speaker 1: with Penelope log we'll call Penny, working at a big 1056 01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:54,200 Speaker 1: box store and dealing with increasing transphobia both online and 1057 01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:57,800 Speaker 1: in person in the early Trump era. Penny's a veteran 1058 01:00:57,960 --> 01:01:00,560 Speaker 1: and a country girl, and she was looking to get 1059 01:01:00,560 --> 01:01:03,320 Speaker 1: out of the city along with her partner's Canton Gin. 1060 01:01:03,520 --> 01:01:06,400 Speaker 1: She decided to rent some land, set up founding rescued 1061 01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:11,160 Speaker 1: out Pakis. So we started in Livermore, Colorado, which is 1062 01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:14,280 Speaker 1: on the whole entire other side of the state. UM. 1063 01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:18,920 Speaker 1: And it really was a reaction to what was happening 1064 01:01:19,040 --> 01:01:23,040 Speaker 1: to the queer community UM, not only locally, but kind 1065 01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:26,360 Speaker 1: of what we were seeing nationally. Went about two years 1066 01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:29,560 Speaker 1: into the Trump presidency, where things were just getting really 1067 01:01:29,640 --> 01:01:33,280 Speaker 1: bleak and dire for the majority of people that we 1068 01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:36,800 Speaker 1: hung out with. UM. We we were originally going to 1069 01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,560 Speaker 1: try to like just make a make a bus that 1070 01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:43,600 Speaker 1: was roadworthy and we could live in and just kind 1071 01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:46,520 Speaker 1: of be nomadic, but we couldn't really on board and 1072 01:01:46,600 --> 01:01:48,560 Speaker 1: help other people that way, Like that was really just 1073 01:01:48,680 --> 01:01:50,600 Speaker 1: like it would have been hard to have the cats 1074 01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:53,440 Speaker 1: we have. We also had like even at that point 1075 01:01:53,520 --> 01:01:55,280 Speaker 1: we had like four cats, so it was or two 1076 01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:59,640 Speaker 1: three cats whatever at the time, but still too many um, yeah, 1077 01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:03,120 Speaker 1: dog and whatever. So so we uh so I had 1078 01:02:03,120 --> 01:02:05,880 Speaker 1: always wanted to do a homestead, and I grew up 1079 01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:08,720 Speaker 1: farming and ranching, so it was very natural for me. 1080 01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:11,680 Speaker 1: UM and so we found a ranch that we could 1081 01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:16,760 Speaker 1: rent and livermore. UM and knee cat and gen Um 1082 01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:21,240 Speaker 1: just kind of set out to start somewhere. So I 1083 01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:24,800 Speaker 1: was a haven for career people, UM, but also a 1084 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:27,760 Speaker 1: home for us. You know. It turned out the United 1085 01:02:27,800 --> 01:02:31,280 Speaker 1: States didn't something given alt pack of crisis. The animals 1086 01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:34,240 Speaker 1: were once extremely fashionable, and hurts popped up over the 1087 01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:38,080 Speaker 1: West in the nineties. Now that generation about pacer ranches 1088 01:02:38,120 --> 01:02:40,480 Speaker 1: are aging out of the hard physical labor that makes 1089 01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:43,440 Speaker 1: about every day on a ranch, and there are packers 1090 01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:47,120 Speaker 1: are often left to their own devices. The unicorns, as 1091 01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,200 Speaker 1: the people in the valley called them, adopt these al packers, 1092 01:02:50,280 --> 01:02:52,560 Speaker 1: which are often neglected, and care for them. They re 1093 01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:54,880 Speaker 1: feed them slowly so they won't die from the blow 1094 01:02:55,120 --> 01:02:58,000 Speaker 1: that comes from refeeding too fast and they sell their 1095 01:02:58,040 --> 01:03:02,200 Speaker 1: fiber as yah. Gradually, with a ton of hard work 1096 01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:05,760 Speaker 1: and a growing community, they built their ranch into a 1097 01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:10,920 Speaker 1: sustainable operation. But as the herd grew and their unfortunate 1098 01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:15,280 Speaker 1: rental agreement became clearer, they decided they needed a different ranch, 1099 01:03:15,560 --> 01:03:18,080 Speaker 1: and so they moved across the state to Westcliffe. And 1100 01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:22,520 Speaker 1: it was a rented ranch that we were trying to 1101 01:03:22,600 --> 01:03:24,720 Speaker 1: rent to own. We thought we were renting their own 1102 01:03:24,760 --> 01:03:29,600 Speaker 1: actually um, and then that road got pulled out from 1103 01:03:29,680 --> 01:03:31,880 Speaker 1: underneath us, like they just they just when we went 1104 01:03:31,960 --> 01:03:35,200 Speaker 1: to purchase it, they were just like, no, you haven't 1105 01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:37,600 Speaker 1: been renting, going, you've just been renting. And we were 1106 01:03:37,640 --> 01:03:42,320 Speaker 1: in an additional hundred thousand dollars. So it was like, yeah, 1107 01:03:43,640 --> 01:03:46,080 Speaker 1: we had to move right as COVID was getting bad 1108 01:03:46,680 --> 01:03:50,160 Speaker 1: in America, so like March of that was fun. Yeah, 1109 01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:52,720 Speaker 1: it was. It was the worst and best move all 1110 01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:55,920 Speaker 1: at the same time. Because the roads were fucking empty, 1111 01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:58,840 Speaker 1: like if quarantine was in full effects, so the roads 1112 01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:01,640 Speaker 1: were empty. So we were traveling with trailers full of 1113 01:04:01,680 --> 01:04:05,920 Speaker 1: animals on empty roads. And then after like the restrictions 1114 01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:07,640 Speaker 1: lightened and we got used to what like the normal 1115 01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:11,240 Speaker 1: traffic flow was we were like, fuck this like but 1116 01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:14,360 Speaker 1: it was cool, like having everything shut down, we couldn't 1117 01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:18,040 Speaker 1: like the big problem was we couldn't rent anything because 1118 01:04:18,080 --> 01:04:21,680 Speaker 1: every rental place had shut down. And so the really 1119 01:04:22,200 --> 01:04:26,080 Speaker 1: it was like the beginnings of like the community for 1120 01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:28,040 Speaker 1: for us, right, it was like we t have friends 1121 01:04:28,160 --> 01:04:30,960 Speaker 1: and you know, comrades to how social media. Yeah, and 1122 01:04:31,160 --> 01:04:33,440 Speaker 1: everybody really stepped up and helped with that move. So 1123 01:04:33,640 --> 01:04:36,280 Speaker 1: it was it was cool. West Coasts where I met them. 1124 01:04:37,080 --> 01:04:39,200 Speaker 1: It's a beautiful town in the sound grade to Christo's. 1125 01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:42,280 Speaker 1: In the summer, it's full of tourists taking weekend trip 1126 01:04:42,360 --> 01:04:44,720 Speaker 1: to the mountains and eating ice cream. And in the 1127 01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:51,280 Speaker 1: winter it's quiet, snow covered, beautiful and absolutely freezing. In March, 1128 01:04:52,760 --> 01:04:54,800 Speaker 1: I drive through the town in the afternoon, and what 1129 01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:58,800 Speaker 1: I figured was an inconspicuous man everyone else who visited 1130 01:04:58,920 --> 01:05:01,320 Speaker 1: the ranch that month and picked up a tail. Aside 1131 01:05:01,320 --> 01:05:03,400 Speaker 1: from a few strange looks, I think I got through, okay. 1132 01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:07,760 Speaker 1: I took a long, lonely winding road through the valley 1133 01:05:07,800 --> 01:05:10,120 Speaker 1: and then turned down a dirt road towards the ranch. 1134 01:05:11,160 --> 01:05:13,520 Speaker 1: Penny met me at the gate in a plate carrier 1135 01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:16,760 Speaker 1: with it rifle we briefly hugged, and then I quickly 1136 01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:19,120 Speaker 1: parked my car outside. They don't that the grown queer 1137 01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:22,400 Speaker 1: community at the ranch called home. It was a profoundly 1138 01:05:22,520 --> 01:05:26,760 Speaker 1: strange experience. Inside the house was full of warmth, conversation, 1139 01:05:26,800 --> 01:05:30,680 Speaker 1: and laughter, people enjoying each other's company and enjoying being 1140 01:05:30,720 --> 01:05:33,880 Speaker 1: out of the biting wind and snow. Outside was cold. 1141 01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:36,760 Speaker 1: We wore plate carriers, and the ranches carried a long guns. 1142 01:05:37,600 --> 01:05:40,120 Speaker 1: I carried a camera, a go pro and a kniffac 1143 01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:44,520 Speaker 1: and then dressed in battle rattle. We broke the eyes 1144 01:05:44,560 --> 01:05:46,520 Speaker 1: on the art pack of drinking tanks and tried to 1145 01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:49,280 Speaker 1: stop the recently adopted animals from re feeding too quickly. 1146 01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:53,400 Speaker 1: I walked and talked with Penny and j another of 1147 01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:56,360 Speaker 1: the unicorns whose story will get to you later, about 1148 01:05:56,400 --> 01:05:59,920 Speaker 1: the stress that the increasing threats to them had had 1149 01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:04,160 Speaker 1: on them. But first we met the animals. We have sheeps, 1150 01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:08,120 Speaker 1: we have goats, We have of course alpaca. We have 1151 01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:15,120 Speaker 1: ducks and chickens um day to days, five pyrenees which 1152 01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:20,160 Speaker 1: are life start guardian dogs, and a couple of blue 1153 01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:31,200 Speaker 1: heelers rescues Um and my dog Starbuck, and oh yeah, 1154 01:06:31,240 --> 01:06:37,280 Speaker 1: eight cats. Um, But the vast, vast majority are the alpacas. Yeah, 1155 01:06:37,520 --> 01:06:39,680 Speaker 1: it might sound a dilic, and in many ways it 1156 01:06:39,800 --> 01:06:43,000 Speaker 1: is a dilic, but the work on the ranch never stops, 1157 01:06:43,320 --> 01:06:46,919 Speaker 1: and sick al packa need tending to almost constantly, even 1158 01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:49,320 Speaker 1: during the siege, which we will get too soon, I promise. 1159 01:06:50,640 --> 01:06:52,560 Speaker 1: There was a lot that volunteers could help with, but 1160 01:06:52,640 --> 01:06:55,920 Speaker 1: animal husbandry wasn't on the list. So even after long 1161 01:06:56,040 --> 01:07:00,200 Speaker 1: night's patrolling their ranch, cold and afraid, Penny j often 1162 01:07:00,240 --> 01:07:01,880 Speaker 1: had to take it. In terms of looking after old 1163 01:07:01,880 --> 01:07:05,560 Speaker 1: animals with blow let's, they labored to breathe. Here's one 1164 01:07:05,600 --> 01:07:08,200 Speaker 1: that I recorded, Um, can you set that down and 1165 01:07:08,280 --> 01:07:10,240 Speaker 1: help me stand her up, because we're just gonna see 1166 01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:12,840 Speaker 1: if we can get her to walk? All right, if 1167 01:07:12,840 --> 01:07:20,120 Speaker 1: you'll run it? Okay, I don't know, I don't know. Yeh, 1168 01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:28,120 Speaker 1: there you go, there you go, there you go. You 1169 01:07:29,960 --> 01:07:37,360 Speaker 1: all right. My felts are perfect good. Next up, they 1170 01:07:37,440 --> 01:07:43,520 Speaker 1: can set it in there. You gotta walk, baby, that's 1171 01:07:43,560 --> 01:07:47,959 Speaker 1: part of this. I know. That's part of this though. Okay, okay, okay, 1172 01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:54,760 Speaker 1: oh baby, I can't do that. It's all right, love, 1173 01:07:54,840 --> 01:08:00,880 Speaker 1: it's sorry. M hmm. Well, if you're not gonna walk, 1174 01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:07,560 Speaker 1: my life. I gotta do this. I know it hurts. Yeah, Okay, 1175 01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:19,280 Speaker 1: let's get crush. Yeah it's okay, it's there. That's a 1176 01:08:19,360 --> 01:08:35,559 Speaker 1: good burb. Sounded like there was a little bit more movement. Yeah. 1177 01:08:35,600 --> 01:08:37,599 Speaker 1: I'm getting the feeling that they probably didn't even start 1178 01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:40,840 Speaker 1: asking for help until we guns thought they heard was 1179 01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:43,760 Speaker 1: actually dying in the old field. The story about how 1180 01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:46,360 Speaker 1: we got from a thriving and happy ranch community built 1181 01:08:46,400 --> 01:08:49,439 Speaker 1: on the anarchist principle of mutual aid and solidarity, to 1182 01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:52,400 Speaker 1: what the Unicorns called the siege. If this story it's 1183 01:08:52,439 --> 01:08:56,160 Speaker 1: about lies, bigotry, and the Internet, but it's hard to 1184 01:08:56,200 --> 01:08:58,800 Speaker 1: think about those things too much of the ranch because 1185 01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:01,160 Speaker 1: in the two trips I've taken and I felt nothing 1186 01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:06,200 Speaker 1: but incredible sense of love, solidarity, and supportive community. If 1187 01:09:06,240 --> 01:09:08,160 Speaker 1: you've engage with the story of the ranch at all 1188 01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:12,160 Speaker 1: preppt following Tenaci's Unicorn Ranch online, it's probably because of 1189 01:09:12,200 --> 01:09:15,080 Speaker 1: the siege. But I don't want this to be storied. 1190 01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:18,200 Speaker 1: It's just about guns, bigger tree, and community defense. I 1191 01:09:18,280 --> 01:09:20,719 Speaker 1: also wanted to be a story about how long before 1192 01:09:20,720 --> 01:09:23,680 Speaker 1: the siege began, the community at the Anais Unicorn Ranch 1193 01:09:23,760 --> 01:09:26,160 Speaker 1: realized that nobody was coming to save them, and so 1194 01:09:26,280 --> 01:09:33,400 Speaker 1: they decided to save themselves. They were they want to 1195 01:09:33,479 --> 01:09:39,519 Speaker 1: kill us, and yeah, but when we like call it out, 1196 01:09:40,200 --> 01:09:44,400 Speaker 1: you know, I, hey, stop killing us, not even like 1197 01:09:45,080 --> 01:09:47,240 Speaker 1: fuck you, just hey, like, did you just like lay 1198 01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:57,639 Speaker 1: off the whole killing us thing? You fucking fucking fund happy, 1199 01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:04,439 Speaker 1: like fucking unsympathetic victim screaming training for all? Right, So 1200 01:10:04,560 --> 01:10:10,519 Speaker 1: now no you can't stop killing that good? Maybe time 1201 01:10:10,560 --> 01:10:13,720 Speaker 1: to get guns now. The day I slip slid my 1202 01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:16,240 Speaker 1: way across hard scrabbled past in my not so trusty 1203 01:10:16,280 --> 01:10:18,680 Speaker 1: nous and our mirror with the same day that the 1204 01:10:18,720 --> 01:10:22,240 Speaker 1: gunman walked into a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado and killed 1205 01:10:22,280 --> 01:10:25,760 Speaker 1: ten people with an a R pistol, my social media 1206 01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:28,280 Speaker 1: feed was filled with the sadly all two common reactions 1207 01:10:28,320 --> 01:10:30,280 Speaker 1: to these, all two common mass murders that happened in 1208 01:10:30,320 --> 01:10:35,040 Speaker 1: this country. But the next day I saw people flooding 1209 01:10:35,080 --> 01:10:37,040 Speaker 1: gun shops in the fear that the state would begin 1210 01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:40,840 Speaker 1: enforcing tot to gun control laws. It didn't. As I 1211 01:10:40,960 --> 01:10:43,880 Speaker 1: edit this draft, another young man with another gun has 1212 01:10:43,920 --> 01:10:46,760 Speaker 1: walked into a gay bar in Colorado Springs, about an 1213 01:10:46,760 --> 01:10:50,200 Speaker 1: hour from the ranch. It's an intensely conservative city. The 1214 01:10:50,240 --> 01:10:53,519 Speaker 1: host focus on the family. You'll know by now that 1215 01:10:53,640 --> 01:10:56,120 Speaker 1: the club queue shooting result in the death of five people, 1216 01:10:56,280 --> 01:11:00,200 Speaker 1: including two trans people, and injured twenty one more. I'll 1217 01:11:00,200 --> 01:11:02,679 Speaker 1: be honest with you, it felt a bit weird driving 1218 01:11:02,720 --> 01:11:06,000 Speaker 1: through Colorado to write a story about guns was broadly positive, 1219 01:11:06,439 --> 01:11:09,680 Speaker 1: and in a sense it still does today. But the 1220 01:11:09,800 --> 01:11:12,439 Speaker 1: reason this story about guns is positive really has very 1221 01:11:12,479 --> 01:11:15,040 Speaker 1: little to do with guns and everything to do with people. 1222 01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:18,840 Speaker 1: It's really a surly about solidarity what it is about 1223 01:11:18,840 --> 01:11:21,679 Speaker 1: a R fifteen, But some people will never get part 1224 01:11:21,720 --> 01:11:25,120 Speaker 1: of the A R fifteen enough to see that. In 1225 01:11:25,200 --> 01:11:26,600 Speaker 1: case you missed it or you caught one of the 1226 01:11:26,640 --> 01:11:28,560 Speaker 1: reports at the time that seemed to skim over the 1227 01:11:28,640 --> 01:11:31,120 Speaker 1: fact that the rant is around. We should give an 1228 01:11:31,160 --> 01:11:33,360 Speaker 1: account of the siege up top here so you understand 1229 01:11:33,439 --> 01:11:37,519 Speaker 1: what happened. Understanding why it happened, that's another episode. So 1230 01:11:37,600 --> 01:11:40,000 Speaker 1: for now, just to understand. That's some boomer's log into 1231 01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:43,519 Speaker 1: their social media and the queer elimination rhetoric we've reported 1232 01:11:43,600 --> 01:11:46,760 Speaker 1: so much about overlapped with their small community in a 1233 01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:49,400 Speaker 1: valley in the sun readA Cristo Mountains, and this was 1234 01:11:49,479 --> 01:11:52,920 Speaker 1: a result. Things started as they often do these days 1235 01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:56,040 Speaker 1: online with a throwaway comment about a parade in town. 1236 01:11:57,160 --> 01:11:59,200 Speaker 1: The girls didn't really know that they've moved into the 1237 01:11:59,240 --> 01:12:02,600 Speaker 1: reddest County, Colorado. At a time, Lauren Bobot was that 1238 01:12:02,680 --> 01:12:06,240 Speaker 1: congress person. But soon they started to get an idea 1239 01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:08,840 Speaker 1: of what some people, pretty small minority of people, if 1240 01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:12,160 Speaker 1: it turned down, I thought about them. So it started 1241 01:12:12,280 --> 01:12:16,360 Speaker 1: on Facebook, like honestly, like we started seeing more comments 1242 01:12:16,400 --> 01:12:18,920 Speaker 1: and people getting weird about it, and then there was 1243 01:12:19,320 --> 01:12:22,000 Speaker 1: literally to this day, I will still say it was 1244 01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:27,559 Speaker 1: a fascist fucking parade you're talking about July they had 1245 01:12:27,760 --> 01:12:31,120 Speaker 1: they did a fascism, like the local fascist did a fascism. 1246 01:12:31,840 --> 01:12:36,040 Speaker 1: And we observed this by accident because we were like, oh, parade, 1247 01:12:36,040 --> 01:12:38,400 Speaker 1: that doesn't sound interesting, But we did go into town 1248 01:12:38,439 --> 01:12:42,280 Speaker 1: to get some coffee and ran smack into a fascist 1249 01:12:42,360 --> 01:12:45,280 Speaker 1: parade and and fascist and what what sort of like 1250 01:12:48,600 --> 01:12:52,000 Speaker 1: fascist in the most like like direct way that there 1251 01:12:52,080 --> 01:12:56,559 Speaker 1: was Christian nationalist flags three percent of flags, Confederate flags 1252 01:12:56,960 --> 01:13:00,600 Speaker 1: carried by armed white people screaming about the government and 1253 01:13:00,720 --> 01:13:03,680 Speaker 1: the libs and the queers. Like it was a they 1254 01:13:03,720 --> 01:13:05,599 Speaker 1: did a fashion. In the photos, there's that one guy 1255 01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:07,599 Speaker 1: with a shirt that says I know things and own 1256 01:13:07,680 --> 01:13:13,040 Speaker 1: guns or something like that and shooting and shoot things, 1257 01:13:13,880 --> 01:13:18,479 Speaker 1: um and so like it was a overtly hard right 1258 01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:25,600 Speaker 1: sponsored parade that was supposed to be like hard like that, 1259 01:13:25,800 --> 01:13:29,040 Speaker 1: Like it was like set up as a protest because 1260 01:13:29,080 --> 01:13:31,799 Speaker 1: of the COVID restrictions, they weren't letting people have a parade, 1261 01:13:32,280 --> 01:13:35,680 Speaker 1: and this was their answer to that. Um and so 1262 01:13:36,320 --> 01:13:39,200 Speaker 1: really all we did was call that out on Twitter. 1263 01:13:39,320 --> 01:13:42,160 Speaker 1: We're like, wow, Like, there's a fashionst parade in West Clifton. 1264 01:13:42,640 --> 01:13:45,880 Speaker 1: We'll come back to this parade next episode. It's organized 1265 01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:48,160 Speaker 1: by a local newspaper, which is, to be perfectly frank, 1266 01:13:48,200 --> 01:13:50,840 Speaker 1: the most batchit, crazy, boom and brain worm thing I've 1267 01:13:51,040 --> 01:13:54,760 Speaker 1: ever seen in print. It was an open carry event 1268 01:13:54,880 --> 01:13:57,000 Speaker 1: when the issues from across the US come to open 1269 01:13:57,080 --> 01:14:02,800 Speaker 1: carry unloaded guns for reasons that we can really pinned down. Soon. 1270 01:14:03,320 --> 01:14:06,000 Speaker 1: The unicorns calling out the parade on Twitter set keyboard 1271 01:14:06,040 --> 01:14:10,720 Speaker 1: fingers clicking. I've said fingers here, but these people give 1272 01:14:10,800 --> 01:14:13,479 Speaker 1: up a distinct single finger typing vibe if I'm honest. 1273 01:14:14,000 --> 01:14:18,040 Speaker 1: We started. The first thing that we noticed was the tails. 1274 01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:24,560 Speaker 1: We started getting tailed from points that everybody that we 1275 01:14:24,680 --> 01:14:30,160 Speaker 1: were very public about frequenting like Paragrine Coffee and Chappie's. 1276 01:14:30,200 --> 01:14:35,120 Speaker 1: We started getting picking up tails uh from those points routinely. 1277 01:14:35,960 --> 01:14:40,400 Speaker 1: Um and that. So like people like following you yeah, yeah, 1278 01:14:41,240 --> 01:14:44,640 Speaker 1: not very covertly in the same three vehicles. And they 1279 01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:47,680 Speaker 1: wouldn't just follow us anyone that they figured out knew us. Yes, 1280 01:14:47,920 --> 01:14:50,960 Speaker 1: anybody that announced on any social media platform that they 1281 01:14:51,000 --> 01:14:54,000 Speaker 1: were coming to see us, they would then follow. And 1282 01:14:54,080 --> 01:14:58,960 Speaker 1: then it really got it became super into the physical 1283 01:14:59,040 --> 01:15:03,080 Speaker 1: world when nine News, well nine News did a piece 1284 01:15:03,160 --> 01:15:06,599 Speaker 1: on us in which the Sheriff's department came up because 1285 01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:09,599 Speaker 1: they were mass reporting us for animal abuse. A lot 1286 01:15:09,640 --> 01:15:11,920 Speaker 1: of the harassment came from a website you're probably familiar 1287 01:15:11,920 --> 01:15:14,280 Speaker 1: with now, but maybe you wouldn't have been back then. 1288 01:15:14,800 --> 01:15:17,800 Speaker 1: It might have been farms and locals. You don't have 1289 01:15:17,880 --> 01:15:20,439 Speaker 1: to say their names. Yeah, if we could blank out. 1290 01:15:24,120 --> 01:15:25,840 Speaker 1: But it's one of those things where like sis, people 1291 01:15:25,880 --> 01:15:28,240 Speaker 1: don't even know that Kwie Farms exists and more people 1292 01:15:28,320 --> 01:15:32,240 Speaker 1: need to fucking now because it's it's it's ridiculous. We've 1293 01:15:32,320 --> 01:15:33,760 Speaker 1: done a couple of episodes. I don't want to give 1294 01:15:33,760 --> 01:15:35,240 Speaker 1: them attention, but like I don't know, I don't know 1295 01:15:35,280 --> 01:15:39,439 Speaker 1: whatever you think is best. Yeah, it's an entire forum 1296 01:15:39,520 --> 01:15:43,320 Speaker 1: dedicated to harassing trans people that get any sort of popularity, 1297 01:15:43,560 --> 01:15:45,679 Speaker 1: ruining their lives as best they can, with the stated 1298 01:15:45,720 --> 01:15:48,679 Speaker 1: goal of making trans people kill themselves. And it's there's 1299 01:15:48,680 --> 01:15:51,439 Speaker 1: a lot of members like like like like notable turfs 1300 01:15:51,479 --> 01:15:53,519 Speaker 1: are part of it, like like like everyone has found 1301 01:15:53,560 --> 01:15:55,599 Speaker 1: this website now and people need to know it at 1302 01:15:55,640 --> 01:15:59,360 Speaker 1: least existed. That it's a truly awful cesspool of They've 1303 01:15:59,400 --> 01:16:02,320 Speaker 1: been all of our time obsessing over that. It seems 1304 01:16:02,360 --> 01:16:04,920 Speaker 1: like it's worth naming them, but please save yourself the 1305 01:16:04,960 --> 01:16:07,559 Speaker 1: time and don't click over there. It's nothing good. Soon 1306 01:16:08,040 --> 01:16:11,679 Speaker 1: things got more real local news your porter who covered 1307 01:16:11,680 --> 01:16:13,720 Speaker 1: the ranch, you've got apostle with a white powder in it. 1308 01:16:14,600 --> 01:16:16,880 Speaker 1: That powder wasn't deadly, but it was a real threat. 1309 01:16:17,439 --> 01:16:20,240 Speaker 1: Soon that threat came to the ranch, the nine news 1310 01:16:20,360 --> 01:16:24,640 Speaker 1: reporter thing happened, and then we started getting like warnings 1311 01:16:24,800 --> 01:16:30,639 Speaker 1: from people that were monitoring chat rooms, like they were like, oh, hey, 1312 01:16:30,840 --> 01:16:35,040 Speaker 1: like the chatter about y'all has skyrocketed, and like it 1313 01:16:35,240 --> 01:16:39,040 Speaker 1: is blatant, like people making plans to burn your home 1314 01:16:39,120 --> 01:16:42,720 Speaker 1: down and kill you, like, and locals started warning us 1315 01:16:42,760 --> 01:16:45,519 Speaker 1: that like Hey, this has happened before. You gotta get ready. 1316 01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:49,200 Speaker 1: This is real. Don't have people yeah, like, don't be 1317 01:16:49,280 --> 01:16:52,280 Speaker 1: PREDENSI about this, Like we're being serious, And so me 1318 01:16:52,400 --> 01:16:56,280 Speaker 1: and Jay started. For about two weeks, we were walking 1319 01:16:56,560 --> 01:17:02,320 Speaker 1: patrols around the perimeter. The unicorns were afraid, so they 1320 01:17:02,360 --> 01:17:05,080 Speaker 1: took steps to defend themselves. Lots of the people that 1321 01:17:05,120 --> 01:17:07,120 Speaker 1: the ranch, like Jen and Cat you can hear in 1322 01:17:07,160 --> 01:17:10,200 Speaker 1: this interview, didn't want to carry guns. Penny and j 1323 01:17:10,479 --> 01:17:13,320 Speaker 1: had some military experience and they knew how to use 1324 01:17:13,400 --> 01:17:16,400 Speaker 1: and carry guns. So every night they set out walking 1325 01:17:16,439 --> 01:17:20,760 Speaker 1: the perimeter to watch for intruders on their property line patrols. 1326 01:17:21,280 --> 01:17:23,000 Speaker 1: They realized that there were people out there at the 1327 01:17:23,120 --> 01:17:26,160 Speaker 1: night looking back at them. That night is when me 1328 01:17:26,240 --> 01:17:29,000 Speaker 1: and J came back from that and put out a 1329 01:17:29,240 --> 01:17:33,360 Speaker 1: very whole heartfelt cry on Twitter like we don't know 1330 01:17:33,400 --> 01:17:37,280 Speaker 1: what the funk to do. We're terrified and any help 1331 01:17:37,479 --> 01:17:41,240 Speaker 1: would be amazing. They were armed at this point, but 1332 01:17:41,400 --> 01:17:45,040 Speaker 1: they weren't ready for a gunfight. That's a very different thing. Sadly, though, 1333 01:17:45,680 --> 01:17:47,720 Speaker 1: the gunfight they weren't ready for wasn't going to wait 1334 01:17:47,800 --> 01:17:52,400 Speaker 1: until they were yeah armed, um rudimentally armed by the way, 1335 01:17:52,479 --> 01:17:55,240 Speaker 1: like Jay had a hunting rifle, no, a shotgun at 1336 01:17:55,280 --> 01:18:01,280 Speaker 1: that point, Um and I had my springfield are uh 1337 01:18:01,360 --> 01:18:04,519 Speaker 1: and so we scared them off, but like that made 1338 01:18:04,560 --> 01:18:07,400 Speaker 1: it like clear and present for us. And so we 1339 01:18:07,520 --> 01:18:11,040 Speaker 1: put a heartfelt call out onto Twitter. Um and although 1340 01:18:11,160 --> 01:18:13,960 Speaker 1: was up here like the next day and caught people 1341 01:18:14,080 --> 01:18:17,599 Speaker 1: on the property that night, like it was armed people 1342 01:18:17,720 --> 01:18:21,360 Speaker 1: on the property, multiple people. Altho arrived the next day, 1343 01:18:21,960 --> 01:18:25,160 Speaker 1: spread on by that same tweet. I'd see this isn't 1344 01:18:25,240 --> 01:18:28,800 Speaker 1: his voice, but they are his words. We wouldn't say 1345 01:18:28,800 --> 01:18:31,160 Speaker 1: too much about him other than that he has significant 1346 01:18:31,160 --> 01:18:33,720 Speaker 1: experience with this kind of thing, and he spent his 1347 01:18:33,800 --> 01:18:36,479 Speaker 1: own time and money to drive across the west to 1348 01:18:36,600 --> 01:18:38,920 Speaker 1: help some queer folks he'd never met. He just wanted 1349 01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:40,759 Speaker 1: to raise our package, and he left the funk alone. 1350 01:18:41,600 --> 01:18:43,880 Speaker 1: I saw a post on Twitter from someone else boasting 1351 01:18:43,920 --> 01:18:47,360 Speaker 1: the original Tenacious Unicorn ranch plea for help. I reached 1352 01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:49,439 Speaker 1: out to them, and after some back and forth and 1353 01:18:49,560 --> 01:18:51,800 Speaker 1: letting them vet me, we agreed I would drive down 1354 01:18:51,840 --> 01:18:54,240 Speaker 1: to help them out. I took a little time to 1355 01:18:54,320 --> 01:18:56,400 Speaker 1: do some map studies of the area and confirm some 1356 01:18:56,520 --> 01:18:59,599 Speaker 1: suspicions about local law enforcement. The sheriff at the time 1357 01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,760 Speaker 1: had really spoken at and supported oathkeepers rallies as a 1358 01:19:02,840 --> 01:19:05,920 Speaker 1: keynote speaker, alongside Stewart Roads, as well as other prominent 1359 01:19:05,960 --> 01:19:08,559 Speaker 1: oath keepers and three per centers. The cops haven't ever 1360 01:19:08,640 --> 01:19:10,880 Speaker 1: been much of an option in keeping marginals people safe, 1361 01:19:11,080 --> 01:19:13,880 Speaker 1: but this was on a whole other level. I called 1362 01:19:13,920 --> 01:19:15,320 Speaker 1: some people to tell them I was heading to its 1363 01:19:15,400 --> 01:19:18,360 Speaker 1: nacious Unicorn ranch for accountability's sake. At the time, I 1364 01:19:18,479 --> 01:19:21,000 Speaker 1: was binging an unhealthy amount of letter Kenny, and when 1365 01:19:21,080 --> 01:19:22,800 Speaker 1: one of them asked me why I was driving six 1366 01:19:22,880 --> 01:19:25,320 Speaker 1: to seven hours to help total strangers, the first thing 1367 01:19:25,400 --> 01:19:27,720 Speaker 1: I thought was when a friend asked for help, you 1368 01:19:27,840 --> 01:19:30,080 Speaker 1: help them all. They gave us his account of what 1369 01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:32,640 Speaker 1: happens again for everyone's safety, were not going to use 1370 01:19:32,760 --> 01:19:36,960 Speaker 1: his voice. But that night he patrolled the perimeter, often 1371 01:19:37,000 --> 01:19:38,439 Speaker 1: nearly being run off the road on the way to 1372 01:19:38,520 --> 01:19:41,040 Speaker 1: the ranch. He said, at first, when he saw the tweets, 1373 01:19:41,080 --> 01:19:44,000 Speaker 1: he thought Penny and j were of reacting, But after 1374 01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:47,080 Speaker 1: that tale, and after what happened that night, he knew 1375 01:19:47,120 --> 01:19:50,360 Speaker 1: something very strange was going on. So on arrival at 1376 01:19:50,400 --> 01:19:52,479 Speaker 1: the hard Pack road off the highway, there were two 1377 01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:54,840 Speaker 1: cars on the other side of the highway from the intersection, 1378 01:19:55,160 --> 01:19:57,879 Speaker 1: backed in with their headlights off. There's an old Durango 1379 01:19:58,040 --> 01:19:59,880 Speaker 1: and a truck that I couldn't make the model of 1380 01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:02,400 Speaker 1: on the other side of that Durrango. Once I turned 1381 01:20:02,400 --> 01:20:05,360 Speaker 1: down the road, probably two yards after turning, I looked 1382 01:20:05,400 --> 01:20:07,280 Speaker 1: back and saw one of them turn on their headlights 1383 01:20:07,320 --> 01:20:10,080 Speaker 1: and started gaining on me until they were tailgating. I 1384 01:20:10,160 --> 01:20:11,800 Speaker 1: started to slow and pull over to see if they 1385 01:20:11,800 --> 01:20:14,240 Speaker 1: would pass, and they slowed and stuck with me. I 1386 01:20:14,360 --> 01:20:16,640 Speaker 1: had a suspicion about the two cars initially, and this 1387 01:20:16,800 --> 01:20:19,880 Speaker 1: was confirmation. I can't really say how fast we started going, 1388 01:20:20,120 --> 01:20:21,840 Speaker 1: but I know it was significant enough that I was 1389 01:20:21,840 --> 01:20:24,040 Speaker 1: starting to oversteer and lose traction on the back end 1390 01:20:24,040 --> 01:20:26,320 Speaker 1: of my car. On turns, I knew Penny and the 1391 01:20:26,360 --> 01:20:28,879 Speaker 1: rest were waiting at the property gate, so I signaled 1392 01:20:28,880 --> 01:20:31,280 Speaker 1: Penny to say, Hey, I got a tail keep the 1393 01:20:31,320 --> 01:20:33,600 Speaker 1: gate locked. You'll see me driving by. Tell me what 1394 01:20:33,720 --> 01:20:36,560 Speaker 1: vehicle is following me. The vehicle slowed down as we 1395 01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:38,479 Speaker 1: approached the gate, so it appeared they may have been 1396 01:20:38,479 --> 01:20:41,280 Speaker 1: anticipating me to do the same. Once I passed the gate, 1397 01:20:41,360 --> 01:20:44,000 Speaker 1: they continued to follow it. Turns out it was the Drangle, 1398 01:20:44,040 --> 01:20:46,120 Speaker 1: which I later found out had been doing drive byes 1399 01:20:46,160 --> 01:20:48,280 Speaker 1: of the property of the past couple of days. The 1400 01:20:48,400 --> 01:20:51,800 Speaker 1: Durranga quickly realized what all those doing and pursued him 1401 01:20:51,800 --> 01:20:55,400 Speaker 1: postive ro further down that snowy dot. Right after I 1402 01:20:55,439 --> 01:20:57,800 Speaker 1: passed the ranch, I accelerated a little more to create 1403 01:20:57,880 --> 01:20:59,680 Speaker 1: some distance and drove to a spot that I had 1404 01:20:59,680 --> 01:21:01,600 Speaker 1: seen the map on the way down that looked like 1405 01:21:01,640 --> 01:21:04,600 Speaker 1: I could effectively turn around without extra maneuvering. As I 1406 01:21:04,680 --> 01:21:07,080 Speaker 1: turned around, they had closed the gap and started to slow. 1407 01:21:07,760 --> 01:21:09,400 Speaker 1: Once they were pulling up next to me, I turned 1408 01:21:09,400 --> 01:21:11,080 Speaker 1: my high loom and carry light on them to at 1409 01:21:11,160 --> 01:21:13,840 Speaker 1: least distorient or over stimulate them with bright white light 1410 01:21:14,160 --> 01:21:16,840 Speaker 1: and try to catch faces. The windows had a dark tent, 1411 01:21:16,960 --> 01:21:19,519 Speaker 1: so it was not feasible. My other goal was trying 1412 01:21:19,560 --> 01:21:22,360 Speaker 1: to convey I see you and I have the advantage 1413 01:21:22,760 --> 01:21:26,479 Speaker 1: without actually visually threatening them. The driver had been rolling 1414 01:21:26,520 --> 01:21:28,639 Speaker 1: their window down until I put that light in the window, 1415 01:21:28,920 --> 01:21:32,000 Speaker 1: then immediately stopped and rolled it back up. At that point, 1416 01:21:32,080 --> 01:21:34,040 Speaker 1: it was apparently enough to make them decide it wasn't 1417 01:21:34,080 --> 01:21:36,679 Speaker 1: worth it and take off. I legally carry a side 1418 01:21:36,720 --> 01:21:38,400 Speaker 1: arm with me the majority of the time and had 1419 01:21:38,439 --> 01:21:40,160 Speaker 1: it on me. I had my hand on it, but 1420 01:21:40,200 --> 01:21:42,560 Speaker 1: didn't feel the need to draw during that encounter. In 1421 01:21:42,600 --> 01:21:44,439 Speaker 1: the two minutes since he turned off the hard top, 1422 01:21:45,000 --> 01:21:47,400 Speaker 1: does ideas about what he was in for had pivoted 1423 01:21:47,439 --> 01:21:49,479 Speaker 1: almost as fast as his card did not put out 1424 01:21:49,840 --> 01:21:52,080 Speaker 1: earlier on. While driving to the ranch from my house, 1425 01:21:52,200 --> 01:21:54,839 Speaker 1: I had the thought, you know, this is probably bullshit 1426 01:21:55,120 --> 01:21:57,240 Speaker 1: and a bit of an overreaction on their part, So 1427 01:21:57,360 --> 01:21:59,600 Speaker 1: maybe at least I can deescalate some of their anxiety 1428 01:21:59,680 --> 01:22:01,760 Speaker 1: and give them some rest. This will probably just be 1429 01:22:01,800 --> 01:22:05,479 Speaker 1: a lot of nothing. Clearly I was mistaken, and after 1430 01:22:05,600 --> 01:22:08,160 Speaker 1: that encounter my mind was very much re oriented to 1431 01:22:08,160 --> 01:22:11,000 Speaker 1: the present reality. Driving through the gate, I had to 1432 01:22:11,040 --> 01:22:14,680 Speaker 1: prepare myself to the new possibility of actual exigency, and 1433 01:22:14,800 --> 01:22:19,639 Speaker 1: I thought, oh shit, there's something to this well pitter pattern. 1434 01:22:19,720 --> 01:22:22,760 Speaker 1: Motherfucker's I'll just send a message to Penny saying that 1435 01:22:22,800 --> 01:22:24,640 Speaker 1: he was free of his tail, and she opened up 1436 01:22:24,640 --> 01:22:27,320 Speaker 1: the gate quickly. He drove up the same dirt road 1437 01:22:27,360 --> 01:22:29,680 Speaker 1: I did a few days later to the dome who 1438 01:22:29,680 --> 01:22:31,920 Speaker 1: had a scared and sleep deprived unicorns were hiding from 1439 01:22:31,960 --> 01:22:34,120 Speaker 1: the code and from the same people who had just 1440 01:22:34,240 --> 01:22:36,840 Speaker 1: tailed him down the Debt road. Once at the house, 1441 01:22:36,920 --> 01:22:39,759 Speaker 1: we made introductions and I explained that a trusted source 1442 01:22:39,800 --> 01:22:41,920 Speaker 1: had boosted their call for help and I was willing 1443 01:22:41,960 --> 01:22:44,280 Speaker 1: to drive over to see what, if anything, I could 1444 01:22:44,320 --> 01:22:47,160 Speaker 1: do to offer them in the form of assistance. They 1445 01:22:47,200 --> 01:22:50,080 Speaker 1: gave me situational awareness of the property, who lived there, 1446 01:22:50,200 --> 01:22:53,000 Speaker 1: et cetera. Then went over what had been happening up 1447 01:22:53,040 --> 01:22:56,400 Speaker 1: until my arrival. The local harassment people following them and 1448 01:22:56,479 --> 01:22:59,479 Speaker 1: doing drive byes of their property, the Kiwi farms threats 1449 01:22:59,520 --> 01:23:02,519 Speaker 1: of quote burning them out of their home. They had 1450 01:23:02,520 --> 01:23:04,519 Speaker 1: also mentioned there was a probing incident a couple of 1451 01:23:04,600 --> 01:23:06,840 Speaker 1: nights before that had really set them off when they 1452 01:23:06,880 --> 01:23:09,920 Speaker 1: caught another unknown individual probing their fence on the southern 1453 01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:12,479 Speaker 1: side of the ranch. They detailed how they hadn't slept 1454 01:23:12,520 --> 01:23:14,760 Speaker 1: for almost forty eight hours since that incident, which had 1455 01:23:14,800 --> 01:23:17,400 Speaker 1: prompted their call for help. I could tell they were 1456 01:23:17,439 --> 01:23:21,280 Speaker 1: just done mentally, emotionally, physically, but still keeping it together. 1457 01:23:21,760 --> 01:23:24,000 Speaker 1: So I said something to the effect of you've done 1458 01:23:24,000 --> 01:23:26,439 Speaker 1: a great job, go get some rest. I'll stay up 1459 01:23:26,479 --> 01:23:29,560 Speaker 1: and take the watch. That was around nine pm. The 1460 01:23:29,640 --> 01:23:31,639 Speaker 1: crew went to get some deserved rest and I got 1461 01:23:31,680 --> 01:23:34,400 Speaker 1: ready to go out. Before stepping back outside, I had 1462 01:23:34,439 --> 01:23:37,720 Speaker 1: to ask myself what the actual funk is going on? 1463 01:23:38,680 --> 01:23:41,479 Speaker 1: I walked outside, grabbed my rifle and plates, put on 1464 01:23:41,560 --> 01:23:43,800 Speaker 1: some extra layers of warm clothes, and got ready for 1465 01:23:43,880 --> 01:23:48,280 Speaker 1: what turned out to be a long night. Quickly as 1466 01:23:48,280 --> 01:23:50,800 Speaker 1: a unicorn slept, I would have got to work making 1467 01:23:50,840 --> 01:23:53,479 Speaker 1: a plan to keep the property and the people they're safe. 1468 01:23:54,280 --> 01:23:56,760 Speaker 1: Having never been on the property, I went ahead and, 1469 01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:59,759 Speaker 1: to the best of my ability in the dark, started 1470 01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:04,000 Speaker 1: a domaining distances high low ground, points of opportunity, weakness, 1471 01:24:04,680 --> 01:24:09,040 Speaker 1: cover concealment, hazards, and any other unclear backdrops. Like the 1472 01:24:09,120 --> 01:24:11,200 Speaker 1: other residences that I had needed to be aware of 1473 01:24:11,640 --> 01:24:14,200 Speaker 1: that all came into play later. Based off what I 1474 01:24:14,280 --> 01:24:17,280 Speaker 1: found my best guesses, I started working at patrol on foot, 1475 01:24:17,360 --> 01:24:20,280 Speaker 1: covering the areas I thought were vulnerable and most likely 1476 01:24:20,360 --> 01:24:23,559 Speaker 1: for incursion. The roadside seemed like the most likely point 1477 01:24:23,600 --> 01:24:25,880 Speaker 1: of opportunity for them since there was no barbed wire 1478 01:24:26,080 --> 01:24:28,519 Speaker 1: and a single low wire fence being the only barrier 1479 01:24:28,560 --> 01:24:31,439 Speaker 1: to entry on the property. Pretty quickly things go weight. 1480 01:24:31,880 --> 01:24:35,360 Speaker 1: At around I heard the first vehicle pass by. There 1481 01:24:35,400 --> 01:24:37,400 Speaker 1: was decent moonlight at the time, and I could see 1482 01:24:37,439 --> 01:24:39,280 Speaker 1: that it matched the shape and size of the Durango. 1483 01:24:40,040 --> 01:24:42,400 Speaker 1: They were driving by with their lights off, slow rolling 1484 01:24:42,439 --> 01:24:44,439 Speaker 1: and had made a stop about halfway down the property 1485 01:24:44,520 --> 01:24:47,840 Speaker 1: line on the roadway. They repeated this multiple times, so 1486 01:24:47,960 --> 01:24:49,760 Speaker 1: this kind of confirmed my theory they would go for 1487 01:24:49,840 --> 01:24:53,120 Speaker 1: the easiest point of access off the roadway. The drive 1488 01:24:53,160 --> 01:24:56,320 Speaker 1: bys continued sporadically, and twice from high point on property, 1489 01:24:56,400 --> 01:24:58,800 Speaker 1: I watched them turn their headlights back on, heading towards 1490 01:24:58,800 --> 01:25:01,000 Speaker 1: the highway and stop on the hard pack, where another 1491 01:25:01,080 --> 01:25:04,160 Speaker 1: vehicle could be seen sitting with its headlights on. Although 1492 01:25:04,160 --> 01:25:07,000 Speaker 1: it is pretty experience in this scenario, so it's pool 1493 01:25:07,240 --> 01:25:09,400 Speaker 1: another of the defenders who came a few days later, 1494 01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:11,840 Speaker 1: And it's not my first radio with these things either, 1495 01:25:12,000 --> 01:25:14,720 Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean it wasn't scary for all of us, 1496 01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:18,320 Speaker 1: but especially for Adah arrived first and was patrolling a 1497 01:25:18,400 --> 01:25:21,599 Speaker 1: small farm he'd never seen, facing attacks from an unknown 1498 01:25:21,720 --> 01:25:24,320 Speaker 1: number of armed assailants. I can't remember how many times 1499 01:25:24,320 --> 01:25:25,640 Speaker 1: I wish I had my m v g's with me 1500 01:25:25,720 --> 01:25:28,200 Speaker 1: for better situational awareness, but they have been sent off 1501 01:25:28,240 --> 01:25:30,720 Speaker 1: for repairs, so I relied heavily on the moonlight which 1502 01:25:30,800 --> 01:25:33,200 Speaker 1: there was a decent amount of not ideal doing a 1503 01:25:33,200 --> 01:25:35,120 Speaker 1: foot patrol on your own and the dark with an 1504 01:25:35,200 --> 01:25:38,719 Speaker 1: unknown number of people. Multiple times I thought I should 1505 01:25:38,760 --> 01:25:40,640 Speaker 1: get one of them up. There's way more ground than 1506 01:25:40,640 --> 01:25:43,000 Speaker 1: I can safely cover. I don't know the terrain well enough, 1507 01:25:43,040 --> 01:25:45,479 Speaker 1: and doing this alone is fucking dumb if this turns bad. 1508 01:25:46,320 --> 01:25:49,360 Speaker 1: But of course I ignored that intuition and told myself, Okay, 1509 01:25:49,439 --> 01:25:51,840 Speaker 1: I'm overthinking this right now. These dudes are just trying 1510 01:25:51,880 --> 01:25:55,200 Speaker 1: to funk with the queers, and this is purely intimidation. 1511 01:25:55,880 --> 01:25:58,599 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna keep working the vulnerable areas, watch them 1512 01:25:58,800 --> 01:26:01,559 Speaker 1: play their dumb bulsh ship games, and let the tenacious 1513 01:26:01,640 --> 01:26:05,120 Speaker 1: Unicorn ranch folks rest. Besides, at the time, I didn't 1514 01:26:05,120 --> 01:26:08,120 Speaker 1: know the Nacus Unicorn ranch folks before that night. While 1515 01:26:08,160 --> 01:26:10,000 Speaker 1: they did great with what they had available to them, 1516 01:26:10,160 --> 01:26:12,000 Speaker 1: I had no idea how they would respond and a 1517 01:26:12,000 --> 01:26:15,120 Speaker 1: ship hit the fan situation, what their personal capabilities were, 1518 01:26:15,240 --> 01:26:17,200 Speaker 1: if they could be relied on for team movements, and 1519 01:26:17,240 --> 01:26:19,799 Speaker 1: didn't want to risk relying on someone running on fumes, 1520 01:26:20,080 --> 01:26:22,880 Speaker 1: so I said, fuck it, it'll be fine. His fears, 1521 01:26:23,120 --> 01:26:25,960 Speaker 1: as it turned out, were more than justified. A little 1522 01:26:26,000 --> 01:26:28,439 Speaker 1: before midnight cloud cover came in while I was walking 1523 01:26:28,479 --> 01:26:30,960 Speaker 1: along the west fence line and saw what I assumed 1524 01:26:31,080 --> 01:26:33,240 Speaker 1: was a dim flashlight or a cell phone light flash 1525 01:26:33,280 --> 01:26:35,599 Speaker 1: about halfway along the north fence line by the road, 1526 01:26:36,120 --> 01:26:38,760 Speaker 1: and at fifty to twenty seconds later another flash, making 1527 01:26:38,800 --> 01:26:40,840 Speaker 1: me think that they were moving west towards the ranch gate. 1528 01:26:41,240 --> 01:26:43,040 Speaker 1: It was the first time I noticed anyone on foot, 1529 01:26:43,160 --> 01:26:45,240 Speaker 1: so I started slowly working my way down quietly to 1530 01:26:45,280 --> 01:26:47,040 Speaker 1: see if I could get closer for a good visual 1531 01:26:47,080 --> 01:26:49,559 Speaker 1: on who it was walking the roadway. Since the moonlight 1532 01:26:49,640 --> 01:26:52,439 Speaker 1: went away, I stopped about forty or so yards from 1533 01:26:52,439 --> 01:26:54,920 Speaker 1: the gate and squatted download or reduced my profile and 1534 01:26:55,000 --> 01:26:58,240 Speaker 1: just watch. After about ten minutes, I heard quiet voices 1535 01:26:58,360 --> 01:27:01,479 Speaker 1: and then a very distinct from the man that appeared 1536 01:27:01,520 --> 01:27:03,800 Speaker 1: and turned to call out after he activated the gate's 1537 01:27:03,880 --> 01:27:06,719 Speaker 1: motion sensing light. I remember I had to stop myself 1538 01:27:06,760 --> 01:27:09,720 Speaker 1: from laughing from them not only having such shitty discipline, 1539 01:27:09,920 --> 01:27:13,040 Speaker 1: but also at what was a perfectly comical chud name. 1540 01:27:13,560 --> 01:27:15,439 Speaker 1: I stood up and watched another dude come out of 1541 01:27:15,439 --> 01:27:17,240 Speaker 1: the dark into the light of the ranch gate, who 1542 01:27:17,360 --> 01:27:19,679 Speaker 1: very much had the build of an earl. The first 1543 01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:21,880 Speaker 1: guy began lifting and pulling at the gate lock and 1544 01:27:22,000 --> 01:27:24,720 Speaker 1: chain while Earl was trying to cover the most sensing light. 1545 01:27:25,400 --> 01:27:27,040 Speaker 1: They stood at the gate and I could hear them 1546 01:27:27,080 --> 01:27:29,280 Speaker 1: whispering for about a minute before I got annoyed at 1547 01:27:29,320 --> 01:27:31,320 Speaker 1: just how dumb they were and how they didn't notice 1548 01:27:31,360 --> 01:27:34,599 Speaker 1: me creeping closer to them while they were doing all this. Finally, 1549 01:27:34,800 --> 01:27:37,080 Speaker 1: from around fifteen yards, I went ahead and lit up 1550 01:27:37,120 --> 01:27:39,160 Speaker 1: the two males on my flashlight, who both had their 1551 01:27:39,200 --> 01:27:42,800 Speaker 1: faces covered in no visible weapons and a fairly sarcastic voice. 1552 01:27:42,840 --> 01:27:45,080 Speaker 1: I said something to the effect of, Hey, what are 1553 01:27:45,120 --> 01:27:47,920 Speaker 1: you idiots doing? Stop playing with the gate. Go away 1554 01:27:48,600 --> 01:27:51,599 Speaker 1: it would I didn't really feel I had much recourse 1555 01:27:51,680 --> 01:27:53,599 Speaker 1: other than to give a verbal warning at that point, 1556 01:27:53,760 --> 01:27:56,320 Speaker 1: because they were still technically not on the branch property 1557 01:27:56,560 --> 01:27:58,880 Speaker 1: and they had not made any visible attempts to trespass 1558 01:27:59,400 --> 01:28:02,240 Speaker 1: or do any property damage. Both of them ran off 1559 01:28:02,320 --> 01:28:04,960 Speaker 1: in the most awkward, non athletic way you could think of. 1560 01:28:05,560 --> 01:28:07,040 Speaker 1: I didn't see anyone else in the area, so I 1561 01:28:07,080 --> 01:28:08,960 Speaker 1: approached the road to watch them jump into a car 1562 01:28:09,040 --> 01:28:11,280 Speaker 1: and drive off. I kind of laughed at myself and 1563 01:28:11,360 --> 01:28:15,799 Speaker 1: remember saying out loud, cut, you guys are impressively stupid. Okay, 1564 01:28:15,880 --> 01:28:19,240 Speaker 1: they're probing the property. Now I realized these guys weren't 1565 01:28:19,240 --> 01:28:21,920 Speaker 1: working at a higher operational capability. I also felt a 1566 01:28:21,920 --> 01:28:23,800 Speaker 1: little more comfortable that even though I didn't have my 1567 01:28:23,920 --> 01:28:26,760 Speaker 1: n VGs to work in the dark environment, they didn't either. 1568 01:28:27,760 --> 01:28:29,840 Speaker 1: After staying out for another thirty minutes to make sure 1569 01:28:29,880 --> 01:28:31,680 Speaker 1: they were taking a break, I went back inside to 1570 01:28:31,720 --> 01:28:33,640 Speaker 1: warm up for a few minutes, get some food, and 1571 01:28:33,760 --> 01:28:36,080 Speaker 1: change my socks. After it seemed they had maybe gone 1572 01:28:36,160 --> 01:28:38,439 Speaker 1: and reconvened after they got caught trying to tamper with 1573 01:28:38,479 --> 01:28:40,840 Speaker 1: the gate, I turned off the lights inside the house 1574 01:28:40,880 --> 01:28:43,439 Speaker 1: that were visible from the road so I wouldn't be visible, 1575 01:28:43,560 --> 01:28:45,240 Speaker 1: and also just to see if that might make someone 1576 01:28:45,320 --> 01:28:47,760 Speaker 1: tempted to believe that the nation's unicorn ranch folks had 1577 01:28:47,840 --> 01:28:50,360 Speaker 1: turned in for the night. Things were quiet for the 1578 01:28:50,439 --> 01:28:52,920 Speaker 1: next hour or so. While out walking close to the 1579 01:28:52,960 --> 01:28:54,920 Speaker 1: east fence line toward the road, I remember a fox 1580 01:28:55,040 --> 01:28:56,800 Speaker 1: letting out a scream from less than a hundred feet 1581 01:28:56,800 --> 01:28:59,200 Speaker 1: away from me that honestly was more startlingly all the 1582 01:28:59,240 --> 01:29:01,479 Speaker 1: other events in the night up until then. If you 1583 01:29:01,560 --> 01:29:03,600 Speaker 1: haven't heard of fox screaming, it does indeed sound like 1584 01:29:03,720 --> 01:29:06,640 Speaker 1: someone being murdered in the most brutal way possible. I 1585 01:29:06,760 --> 01:29:09,519 Speaker 1: had a fox, probably the same fox a few nights 1586 01:29:09,600 --> 01:29:12,280 Speaker 1: later on the ranch. Even in the midst of the siege, 1587 01:29:12,360 --> 01:29:14,680 Speaker 1: it was still a working ranch, and so as well 1588 01:29:14,720 --> 01:29:17,960 Speaker 1: of protecting people from violence, the ranches and they're pretty 1589 01:29:18,000 --> 01:29:20,479 Speaker 1: and mountain dogs also had to make sure they were 1590 01:29:20,479 --> 01:29:25,000 Speaker 1: protecting the chickens from foxes. Sadly, though foxes weren't the 1591 01:29:25,080 --> 01:29:28,680 Speaker 1: only business that night. A few hours later, a much 1592 01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:31,880 Speaker 1: more serious threat emerged. The night continued to be quiet 1593 01:29:31,920 --> 01:29:34,000 Speaker 1: for the next while, and I decided to move along 1594 01:29:34,040 --> 01:29:36,680 Speaker 1: the east side of the property line. The cloud cover 1595 01:29:36,760 --> 01:29:39,000 Speaker 1: broke around two fifteen and I could see some movement 1596 01:29:39,040 --> 01:29:41,840 Speaker 1: and hear low voices again. I got low and held 1597 01:29:41,880 --> 01:29:44,080 Speaker 1: my position since it was fairly safe. It could make 1598 01:29:44,120 --> 01:29:46,559 Speaker 1: out two figures walking towards me inside the property boundary. 1599 01:29:47,160 --> 01:29:49,400 Speaker 1: I waited until they were about thirty or so yards away, 1600 01:29:49,439 --> 01:29:51,080 Speaker 1: and I was pretty sure there were no others working 1601 01:29:51,160 --> 01:29:53,439 Speaker 1: flanks before using my rifle light to begin the process 1602 01:29:53,479 --> 01:29:55,519 Speaker 1: of p I d and figuring out if they were armed. 1603 01:29:56,080 --> 01:29:57,680 Speaker 1: As soon as I saw them, I noticed they were 1604 01:29:57,760 --> 01:29:59,800 Speaker 1: both armed, one with an a r with no op 1605 01:30:00,160 --> 01:30:01,640 Speaker 1: X and the other with an m one a with 1606 01:30:01,720 --> 01:30:04,000 Speaker 1: optical on it. I realized that while I had the 1607 01:30:04,080 --> 01:30:06,320 Speaker 1: high ground, I was not comfortable with the backdrops due 1608 01:30:06,320 --> 01:30:08,280 Speaker 1: to the house across the road potentially being in line 1609 01:30:08,280 --> 01:30:10,800 Speaker 1: with my firing position, and started shifting to a safer 1610 01:30:10,880 --> 01:30:14,519 Speaker 1: spot in case the confrontation escalated into an engagement. I 1611 01:30:14,640 --> 01:30:16,320 Speaker 1: called out my first command, while moving to a better 1612 01:30:16,360 --> 01:30:19,719 Speaker 1: position to their left side. You are trespassing on private property. 1613 01:30:19,920 --> 01:30:21,800 Speaker 1: Slowly place your weapons on the ground and show me 1614 01:30:21,880 --> 01:30:25,559 Speaker 1: your hands. Do it now. The two men frozen place 1615 01:30:25,840 --> 01:30:28,679 Speaker 1: but did not comply, and I recognized in that moment 1616 01:30:28,920 --> 01:30:30,800 Speaker 1: that these were two different men than who I had 1617 01:30:30,800 --> 01:30:34,680 Speaker 1: seen earlier. I called out again, drop your weapons or 1618 01:30:34,680 --> 01:30:38,000 Speaker 1: I will fire on you. Do it now. As soon 1619 01:30:38,040 --> 01:30:40,080 Speaker 1: as I finished that sentence, they both looked at each 1620 01:30:40,080 --> 01:30:42,280 Speaker 1: other with their rifles and low ready turned to the 1621 01:30:42,400 --> 01:30:45,120 Speaker 1: right and ran. I pursued them so that I wouldn't 1622 01:30:45,160 --> 01:30:47,080 Speaker 1: lose the advantage I had, and to make sure there 1623 01:30:47,160 --> 01:30:48,719 Speaker 1: was no way they can make it up hill towards 1624 01:30:48,760 --> 01:30:51,240 Speaker 1: the house or get into a more advantageous firing position 1625 01:30:51,280 --> 01:30:54,160 Speaker 1: if they decided to turn on me. While parallel to them, 1626 01:30:54,200 --> 01:30:56,160 Speaker 1: so I could keep on the uphill side, I called out, 1627 01:30:56,400 --> 01:30:59,320 Speaker 1: stop and place your weapons on the ground. Realizing there 1628 01:30:59,400 --> 01:31:01,280 Speaker 1: might be others out there watching my light move, I 1629 01:31:01,400 --> 01:31:03,360 Speaker 1: turned it off so I wasn't such an obvious target 1630 01:31:03,560 --> 01:31:05,519 Speaker 1: and made short bursts of the two men fleeings that 1631 01:31:05,560 --> 01:31:07,800 Speaker 1: I could maintain a visual on them. It wasn't an 1632 01:31:07,840 --> 01:31:09,599 Speaker 1: ideal way to handle it, but this was all an 1633 01:31:09,640 --> 01:31:13,679 Speaker 1: incredibly unideal situation to begin with. After sustaining a fast 1634 01:31:13,720 --> 01:31:16,600 Speaker 1: paced run over uneven terrain and somehow not falling on 1635 01:31:16,680 --> 01:31:18,960 Speaker 1: my face, I realized we were moving toward the fence 1636 01:31:19,040 --> 01:31:21,200 Speaker 1: line and quickly looked around with my light to make 1637 01:31:21,240 --> 01:31:23,559 Speaker 1: sure no one else was waiting for them and also armed. 1638 01:31:24,439 --> 01:31:26,360 Speaker 1: At that point, I turned my light back on them, 1639 01:31:26,439 --> 01:31:28,680 Speaker 1: and they both pivoted directly to the fence, since we 1640 01:31:28,760 --> 01:31:30,719 Speaker 1: were still some distance from the gate, where it appeared 1641 01:31:30,720 --> 01:31:32,760 Speaker 1: they were heading toward. The first one with the m 1642 01:31:32,840 --> 01:31:35,040 Speaker 1: one A pushed the fence down and hopped over. The 1643 01:31:35,120 --> 01:31:37,360 Speaker 1: second one panicked and with both hands tossed his a 1644 01:31:37,560 --> 01:31:39,280 Speaker 1: R across the small ditch on the other side of 1645 01:31:39,320 --> 01:31:41,680 Speaker 1: the fence, and I watched it fly halfway across the 1646 01:31:41,720 --> 01:31:44,280 Speaker 1: road While he struggled over the fence. He scurried over 1647 01:31:44,360 --> 01:31:46,519 Speaker 1: and kicked his rifle across the road before picking it up, 1648 01:31:46,640 --> 01:31:48,840 Speaker 1: and disappeared with the other mail into the small ravine 1649 01:31:48,880 --> 01:31:51,920 Speaker 1: on the other side. I realized I was disadvantaged where 1650 01:31:51,920 --> 01:31:54,479 Speaker 1: I was located and repositioned to a small rocky mountain 1651 01:31:54,520 --> 01:31:56,280 Speaker 1: nearby so that I could at least get prone and 1652 01:31:56,360 --> 01:31:58,120 Speaker 1: have some cover if they decided to fire on me. 1653 01:31:58,880 --> 01:32:00,679 Speaker 1: I laid there and recovered my breath for a minute 1654 01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:02,720 Speaker 1: or so, watching to see if anyone else was out there, 1655 01:32:03,000 --> 01:32:04,519 Speaker 1: and then moved toward the house to make sure there 1656 01:32:04,560 --> 01:32:06,920 Speaker 1: weren't other incursions I may have missed while occupied with 1657 01:32:07,000 --> 01:32:11,200 Speaker 1: the other two who disappeared after trying and failing for 1658 01:32:11,240 --> 01:32:13,720 Speaker 1: a second time. It seems that the local biggots took 1659 01:32:13,760 --> 01:32:16,479 Speaker 1: a break for the evening, but out on the unicorns couldn't. 1660 01:32:17,120 --> 01:32:18,760 Speaker 1: That was it for the rest of the night. I 1661 01:32:18,840 --> 01:32:20,880 Speaker 1: did go back down and find their entry point, where 1662 01:32:20,880 --> 01:32:23,439 Speaker 1: the fence had been newly damaged and bent inward, and 1663 01:32:23,560 --> 01:32:26,439 Speaker 1: tracks leading over the patchy snow from the roadway. Then 1664 01:32:26,479 --> 01:32:28,320 Speaker 1: I walked back to their egress point where the fence 1665 01:32:28,360 --> 01:32:31,280 Speaker 1: had been bent outward. Everything that occurred that night was 1666 01:32:31,360 --> 01:32:34,800 Speaker 1: clearly a hostile incursion, and they demonstrated intent to harm 1667 01:32:34,960 --> 01:32:37,679 Speaker 1: others on their own property. The only reason that didn't 1668 01:32:37,720 --> 01:32:40,360 Speaker 1: happen is because we were armed and prepared. I think 1669 01:32:40,360 --> 01:32:42,280 Speaker 1: they realized at that point that the ranch was not 1670 01:32:42,400 --> 01:32:44,800 Speaker 1: a soft target, and the occupants these men painted as 1671 01:32:44,840 --> 01:32:47,679 Speaker 1: weak were in fact hard people willing to protect themselves 1672 01:32:47,920 --> 01:32:51,639 Speaker 1: and stand up against their aggression. More importantly, the residents 1673 01:32:51,640 --> 01:32:54,200 Speaker 1: of the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch just wanted to be left 1674 01:32:54,240 --> 01:33:17,040 Speaker 1: the funk alone. It was a couple of days after 1675 01:33:17,120 --> 01:33:19,240 Speaker 1: Although had its run with the locals when I arrived, 1676 01:33:19,920 --> 01:33:22,120 Speaker 1: if one was on edge. If where we went, it 1677 01:33:22,240 --> 01:33:24,800 Speaker 1: was with guns. So I remember there was a point 1678 01:33:25,160 --> 01:33:26,840 Speaker 1: when I was here, which was like a week or 1679 01:33:26,920 --> 01:33:30,400 Speaker 1: so after the Aldo run, those guys off that like 1680 01:33:31,200 --> 01:33:32,960 Speaker 1: we were going out somewhere, and so folks like, well, 1681 01:33:33,000 --> 01:33:36,760 Speaker 1: can someone who is comfortable using a gun stay behind? Yeah, 1682 01:33:37,000 --> 01:33:39,680 Speaker 1: that's what it was at, Like, yeah, yeah, it was 1683 01:33:40,080 --> 01:33:42,639 Speaker 1: because not all of us like want to or can 1684 01:33:42,960 --> 01:33:45,400 Speaker 1: Like I can't, I'm too scared of guns. Like I 1685 01:33:45,600 --> 01:33:48,160 Speaker 1: recognize that they're very important. I'm glad I am surrounded 1686 01:33:48,200 --> 01:33:51,120 Speaker 1: by people who can like defend me, but um, and 1687 01:33:51,240 --> 01:33:53,960 Speaker 1: I think that's important to allow space for that too. Yeah, 1688 01:33:55,520 --> 01:33:57,800 Speaker 1: what kind of saying there is really important, not just 1689 01:33:57,960 --> 01:34:00,599 Speaker 1: for this story, but for folks listening to this and thinking, 1690 01:34:00,680 --> 01:34:02,640 Speaker 1: oh funk, I need to get guns. If you want 1691 01:34:02,680 --> 01:34:04,200 Speaker 1: to get guns, go ahead and get some if you 1692 01:34:04,320 --> 01:34:08,000 Speaker 1: can safely and legally. But what you need is community. 1693 01:34:09,040 --> 01:34:11,720 Speaker 1: Everyone at the Ranch works hard every day to keep 1694 01:34:11,760 --> 01:34:15,160 Speaker 1: their project going. Sometimes that's with a gun, most of 1695 01:34:15,240 --> 01:34:17,240 Speaker 1: the time it's with a sack of crunchy al pack 1696 01:34:17,280 --> 01:34:24,240 Speaker 1: of food, or sometimes with a keyboard. The community that 1697 01:34:24,360 --> 01:34:27,000 Speaker 1: sustains the Ranch is much bigger than the people on 1698 01:34:27,040 --> 01:34:29,840 Speaker 1: the ground, and it's a great illustration of the power 1699 01:34:29,880 --> 01:34:33,960 Speaker 1: of solidarity to sustain a project, which, in times like today, 1700 01:34:34,000 --> 01:34:37,120 Speaker 1: is the world a really needs today. Hundreds of queer 1701 01:34:37,160 --> 01:34:39,840 Speaker 1: people visit the ranch every year for hundreds of different reasons. 1702 01:34:40,640 --> 01:34:43,679 Speaker 1: CAT takes care of the ranches visitors a monitor social 1703 01:34:43,760 --> 01:34:47,080 Speaker 1: media gen helps administer a Patreon account for the ranch, 1704 01:34:47,400 --> 01:34:51,439 Speaker 1: complete with daily alpaca photos and updates on events. When 1705 01:34:51,479 --> 01:34:54,920 Speaker 1: I arrived at the ranch in it became pretty clear 1706 01:34:55,000 --> 01:34:56,840 Speaker 1: that I wasn't the only one who'd seen the tweet 1707 01:34:57,840 --> 01:35:01,200 Speaker 1: Paul Now the both have backgrounds in combat arms, both 1708 01:35:01,200 --> 01:35:02,880 Speaker 1: of him before it was they now I don't think 1709 01:35:02,880 --> 01:35:05,519 Speaker 1: we're a great idea. Both of them were waiting to 1710 01:35:05,680 --> 01:35:08,120 Speaker 1: use skills of State gave them to protect people who 1711 01:35:08,200 --> 01:35:12,280 Speaker 1: to state wouldn't Paul like Caldo and I came because 1712 01:35:12,320 --> 01:35:17,160 Speaker 1: of a tweet. I saw Aldo tweet like a stop 1713 01:35:17,200 --> 01:35:19,720 Speaker 1: sign or something, and it said, you know, a few 1714 01:35:19,840 --> 01:35:22,840 Speaker 1: years ago, I never would imagined being on like a 1715 01:35:23,479 --> 01:35:30,400 Speaker 1: transgender anarchist alpaca farm, but here I am, and I 1716 01:35:30,600 --> 01:35:32,240 Speaker 1: think I d med him or something. I was like, 1717 01:35:32,360 --> 01:35:36,160 Speaker 1: what the funk are you talking about? And uh, we 1718 01:35:36,320 --> 01:35:41,799 Speaker 1: ended up signal chatting and he explained what was happening 1719 01:35:42,720 --> 01:35:46,560 Speaker 1: and what had happened the day he was there, or 1720 01:35:46,640 --> 01:35:47,960 Speaker 1: one of the days he was there, and I was like, 1721 01:35:48,000 --> 01:35:50,800 Speaker 1: oh wow, that sounds super fucked up. Hey, I'm gonna 1722 01:35:50,800 --> 01:35:55,320 Speaker 1: book a flight. Before they left, they picked up another tail. 1723 01:35:55,760 --> 01:35:59,800 Speaker 1: We went into Westcliffe, the closest town, for something, I think, 1724 01:35:59,880 --> 01:36:02,640 Speaker 1: just to the gas station. And when we when we 1725 01:36:02,760 --> 01:36:06,040 Speaker 1: came back down at the query down by the airport, 1726 01:36:06,120 --> 01:36:08,120 Speaker 1: which is like three or four miles down the road 1727 01:36:08,200 --> 01:36:11,600 Speaker 1: towards the town, two to three vehicles pulled out and 1728 01:36:11,640 --> 01:36:14,800 Speaker 1: started following us, and one of them pulled down the 1729 01:36:14,880 --> 01:36:17,960 Speaker 1: road the ranches on and we we just drove straight 1730 01:36:18,400 --> 01:36:21,720 Speaker 1: and then they followed us, and we turned around two 1731 01:36:21,840 --> 01:36:25,439 Speaker 1: or three roads down, and then the third vehicle that 1732 01:36:25,560 --> 01:36:29,519 Speaker 1: had been waiting now was waiting for us to come 1733 01:36:29,560 --> 01:36:34,760 Speaker 1: back and pull in, so like they were trying very 1734 01:36:34,840 --> 01:36:39,880 Speaker 1: hard to tail anyone and get like identified. When I arrived, 1735 01:36:40,320 --> 01:36:42,960 Speaker 1: Paul and I slept in the guard trailer. Well, I slept, 1736 01:36:43,479 --> 01:36:46,160 Speaker 1: Paul stayed up all night walking patrols and keeping it 1737 01:36:46,360 --> 01:36:48,840 Speaker 1: on the fence line. If you're familiar with Hayduke and 1738 01:36:49,000 --> 01:36:52,160 Speaker 1: Edward Abby's echo anarchist novel The Monkey Ranch Gang, that's 1739 01:36:52,200 --> 01:36:54,760 Speaker 1: a pretty good way to envision Pool, albeit without the 1740 01:36:54,840 --> 01:36:56,960 Speaker 1: misogyny and racism that makes it pretty hard to have 1741 01:36:57,000 --> 01:37:00,519 Speaker 1: any respect for that bookoys author. Through Out the night, 1742 01:37:00,760 --> 01:37:03,280 Speaker 1: I check in on Paul. It wasn't a large trailer, 1743 01:37:04,040 --> 01:37:06,040 Speaker 1: and when I did, I looked through his night vision 1744 01:37:06,080 --> 01:37:08,200 Speaker 1: at the strange movement in the fields around the ranch. 1745 01:37:09,040 --> 01:37:11,760 Speaker 1: People seemed to huddle behind a pickup and they used 1746 01:37:11,800 --> 01:37:14,519 Speaker 1: a headlight to try and blind us. Now vision doesn't 1747 01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:18,240 Speaker 1: really work that way anymore, but they moved around throughout 1748 01:37:18,280 --> 01:37:20,960 Speaker 1: the night thinking that we couldn't see them, staging in 1749 01:37:21,040 --> 01:37:23,679 Speaker 1: different areas on the ridge, above us with the commanding 1750 01:37:23,760 --> 01:37:26,639 Speaker 1: field of view and presumably a field of fire as well. 1751 01:37:27,720 --> 01:37:29,640 Speaker 1: We assume they were trying to watch us as we 1752 01:37:29,760 --> 01:37:33,040 Speaker 1: sat there watching them. It was actually pretty fascinating. Um 1753 01:37:34,000 --> 01:37:37,800 Speaker 1: So a house that happens to be visible from the 1754 01:37:38,120 --> 01:37:41,120 Speaker 1: or another property that's visible from from the hilltop of 1755 01:37:41,160 --> 01:37:44,360 Speaker 1: the ranch was on here. Like every evening. It would 1756 01:37:44,360 --> 01:37:47,760 Speaker 1: start to get dark out and then like fifteen or 1757 01:37:47,840 --> 01:37:50,880 Speaker 1: twenty cars would show up. Oh yeah, it was like, 1758 01:37:51,800 --> 01:37:55,840 Speaker 1: which has never happened since yeahs, like fifteen twenty cars 1759 01:37:55,880 --> 01:38:02,080 Speaker 1: would show up, and um, I can't remember what precipitated it. 1760 01:38:02,840 --> 01:38:06,200 Speaker 1: But the second night I was here, Oh, I know 1761 01:38:06,280 --> 01:38:08,040 Speaker 1: what it was. Somebody had walked their dog and I 1762 01:38:08,120 --> 01:38:10,000 Speaker 1: happened to kind of meet them down by the gate 1763 01:38:10,040 --> 01:38:12,040 Speaker 1: because they were walking up the road. It was like 1764 01:38:12,120 --> 01:38:14,160 Speaker 1: two o'clock in the morning during a blizzard, and I 1765 01:38:14,280 --> 01:38:17,599 Speaker 1: was like, this is very unusual. So I met them 1766 01:38:17,640 --> 01:38:20,720 Speaker 1: down there, and um, I happened to have like night 1767 01:38:20,840 --> 01:38:26,639 Speaker 1: vision gear and they it was obviously like from them 1768 01:38:27,800 --> 01:38:31,839 Speaker 1: because from that point on they would actually point vehicles 1769 01:38:31,880 --> 01:38:34,160 Speaker 1: at the ranch with their headlights on the entire night. 1770 01:38:35,000 --> 01:38:39,080 Speaker 1: From some properties that are closer to the highway, which 1771 01:38:39,160 --> 01:38:43,200 Speaker 1: like is semi effective. It makes this bloom for fifteen 1772 01:38:43,240 --> 01:38:45,840 Speaker 1: ft around that vehicle, but then everything else you can 1773 01:38:45,880 --> 01:38:48,880 Speaker 1: just see, so it didn't matter. Inside the house, it 1774 01:38:48,960 --> 01:38:50,800 Speaker 1: got harder and harder to move over the course. In 1775 01:38:50,840 --> 01:38:54,120 Speaker 1: the next few days, a support came flooding in. There 1776 01:38:54,200 --> 01:38:58,320 Speaker 1: was sounding the rounds of ammunition plate carriers, plates, the 1777 01:38:58,439 --> 01:39:01,400 Speaker 1: kind of stop bullets, and boxes the first aid supplies. 1778 01:39:02,360 --> 01:39:05,400 Speaker 1: One day Paul Knight set around staging first aid kits, 1779 01:39:05,720 --> 01:39:08,400 Speaker 1: unwrapping and preparing the products to make them Easia to Use. 1780 01:39:09,640 --> 01:39:13,040 Speaker 1: People messaged every day volunteering to help, and we looked 1781 01:39:13,080 --> 01:39:15,360 Speaker 1: them up using some background check websites they often use 1782 01:39:15,439 --> 01:39:17,400 Speaker 1: to work to check that they weren't to trying to 1783 01:39:17,479 --> 01:39:21,040 Speaker 1: infiltrate their ranch. The amount of support that we've seen 1784 01:39:21,600 --> 01:39:25,680 Speaker 1: is largely absurd, Like I would have never guess that, 1785 01:39:25,920 --> 01:39:29,639 Speaker 1: Like people would have come out. It's hard for us. Yeah, 1786 01:39:31,479 --> 01:39:33,519 Speaker 1: they must be nice to know that, Like everybody fucking 1787 01:39:33,560 --> 01:39:36,720 Speaker 1: wants you to succeed, right, yeah, Like it gives us through, 1788 01:39:36,960 --> 01:39:40,120 Speaker 1: Like you can't troll me. Yeah, no, there are no 1789 01:39:40,240 --> 01:39:42,200 Speaker 1: haters that can get to us because of how much 1790 01:39:42,240 --> 01:39:46,479 Speaker 1: support that we know is out there, not only locally 1791 01:39:46,560 --> 01:39:53,400 Speaker 1: but internationally, like you're nationally, we have people from all 1792 01:39:53,520 --> 01:39:55,600 Speaker 1: over the world that have taken a moment to be 1793 01:39:55,720 --> 01:39:58,000 Speaker 1: like what can I do? Like what do you need 1794 01:39:58,160 --> 01:40:01,599 Speaker 1: right now? Like that is just like you can't roll 1795 01:40:01,720 --> 01:40:04,519 Speaker 1: that out of me. There is nothing you can say 1796 01:40:04,560 --> 01:40:07,559 Speaker 1: that and be like yeah, but also I've got twelve 1797 01:40:07,640 --> 01:40:10,640 Speaker 1: people who would kill you for me, so I don't know. 1798 01:40:13,920 --> 01:40:16,559 Speaker 1: The Ranch became something of a course celebration. The arm left, 1799 01:40:17,200 --> 01:40:21,479 Speaker 1: the outpouring of support was incredible. In March one, we 1800 01:40:21,560 --> 01:40:24,240 Speaker 1: all probably felt a little bit helpless. A summer of 1801 01:40:24,360 --> 01:40:27,400 Speaker 1: uprising and VAULT had yielded a new geriatric white dude 1802 01:40:27,400 --> 01:40:30,800 Speaker 1: in charge. COVID was still raging, and the cops had 1803 01:40:30,800 --> 01:40:33,360 Speaker 1: shown less anger at thousands of church storm in Congress 1804 01:40:33,520 --> 01:40:36,040 Speaker 1: than they did at kids holding Black Lives Matter platts 1805 01:40:36,040 --> 01:40:38,960 Speaker 1: in the street. In a time when it was difficult 1806 01:40:39,000 --> 01:40:42,360 Speaker 1: to feel powerful, the Ranch openly defying attempts to scare 1807 01:40:42,400 --> 01:40:44,400 Speaker 1: them out of the valley gave people a sense of 1808 01:40:44,479 --> 01:40:47,439 Speaker 1: success and they were more than willing to show up 1809 01:40:47,479 --> 01:40:49,960 Speaker 1: and help. So, yeah, I want to talk about that 1810 01:40:50,000 --> 01:40:52,360 Speaker 1: because you guys attempted to basically stuck up on far 1811 01:40:52,400 --> 01:40:54,760 Speaker 1: around at the time in American history when that may 1812 01:40:54,800 --> 01:40:58,479 Speaker 1: have been hardest and most expensive, And what sort of 1813 01:40:58,560 --> 01:41:00,880 Speaker 1: got you through was a lot odd of people from 1814 01:41:01,120 --> 01:41:06,080 Speaker 1: all over the Internet, sharing from all over the world, 1815 01:41:06,400 --> 01:41:10,519 Speaker 1: like it was literally all over the world. Any fascist organizations, Yeah, 1816 01:41:10,560 --> 01:41:16,200 Speaker 1: we got sent plate plate carriers. People did runs for Ammo, 1817 01:41:16,760 --> 01:41:20,479 Speaker 1: like people would like buy Ammo like or organize something 1818 01:41:20,600 --> 01:41:23,400 Speaker 1: and get Ammo and food and things and then just 1819 01:41:23,600 --> 01:41:26,080 Speaker 1: drive up, drop it and leave, because you know, not 1820 01:41:26,200 --> 01:41:28,800 Speaker 1: everybody's ready to be in like an active zone where 1821 01:41:28,800 --> 01:41:31,240 Speaker 1: you could get shot, but they would do runs up 1822 01:41:31,280 --> 01:41:34,559 Speaker 1: to drop stuff off for us. Like it was crazy crazy, 1823 01:41:35,080 --> 01:41:38,160 Speaker 1: But that solidarity wasn't just on the Internet. It was 1824 01:41:38,240 --> 01:41:41,560 Speaker 1: in the valley as well. Even before the attacks on 1825 01:41:41,600 --> 01:41:45,120 Speaker 1: the ranch began, the unicorns knew they were coming. They 1826 01:41:45,200 --> 01:41:48,920 Speaker 1: knew because people told them, and people told them because 1827 01:41:48,960 --> 01:41:51,120 Speaker 1: they cared about them and wanted them to be safe. 1828 01:41:52,520 --> 01:41:55,879 Speaker 1: They cared about them because from the outset, the unicorns 1829 01:41:55,920 --> 01:41:59,280 Speaker 1: had made themselves an important part of their community. When 1830 01:41:59,320 --> 01:42:02,200 Speaker 1: the County Star recycling waste it could be recycled, the 1831 01:42:02,280 --> 01:42:06,080 Speaker 1: vehiclen steppedop and volunteered to do it themselves. On my 1832 01:42:06,200 --> 01:42:08,519 Speaker 1: first trip, I joined Penny and Ja for the long 1833 01:42:08,680 --> 01:42:11,840 Speaker 1: drive into Canyon City with a rickety horse trailer full 1834 01:42:11,880 --> 01:42:15,440 Speaker 1: of old beer cans and a truck with a struggling transmission. 1835 01:42:16,120 --> 01:42:18,240 Speaker 1: The money they get paid to recycle the cans is 1836 01:42:18,320 --> 01:42:21,000 Speaker 1: less than the gas they spend getting there. But it's 1837 01:42:21,000 --> 01:42:28,760 Speaker 1: an important thing to do, so they do it. Hey Garrison, here, 1838 01:42:29,479 --> 01:42:32,200 Speaker 1: Now that we have talked about how the siege happened, 1839 01:42:32,800 --> 01:42:36,639 Speaker 1: we need to explain why. At the start of this series, 1840 01:42:36,840 --> 01:42:39,280 Speaker 1: we said that this was a story that was about 1841 01:42:39,280 --> 01:42:42,960 Speaker 1: the Internet, and it is. It's a story about how 1842 01:42:43,080 --> 01:42:45,720 Speaker 1: the Internet has allowed a section of the American right 1843 01:42:46,080 --> 01:42:51,439 Speaker 1: that's always existed to develop links and gained both power 1844 01:42:51,600 --> 01:42:56,120 Speaker 1: and coherence in the last two decades, thanks largely to 1845 01:42:56,520 --> 01:43:01,160 Speaker 1: online organizing. The story of all these groups got where 1846 01:43:01,160 --> 01:43:04,200 Speaker 1: they are is a long one. It starts with talk 1847 01:43:04,360 --> 01:43:07,840 Speaker 1: radio with Rush Limbaugh and then with Glenn Beck and 1848 01:43:07,880 --> 01:43:11,519 Speaker 1: the gradual drift to Fox News, from bad journalism to 1849 01:43:11,680 --> 01:43:16,280 Speaker 1: outright barking for genocide seven nights a week at prime time. 1850 01:43:17,240 --> 01:43:21,080 Speaker 1: The story that we can't tell here, not in its entirety, 1851 01:43:21,360 --> 01:43:23,560 Speaker 1: but we can show you a little of what it 1852 01:43:23,640 --> 01:43:27,679 Speaker 1: looks like when that rhetoric leaves the forums and Facebook 1853 01:43:27,720 --> 01:43:31,320 Speaker 1: comments and lands on the ground in a small town 1854 01:43:31,479 --> 01:43:37,080 Speaker 1: in Colorado. There are two versions of the truth in Westcliffe. 1855 01:43:37,760 --> 01:43:39,920 Speaker 1: There's the one that most of you are going to hear, 1856 01:43:40,720 --> 01:43:43,160 Speaker 1: and then there's the one that you can find George 1857 01:43:43,240 --> 01:43:48,439 Speaker 1: Gramlich purveying in his local newspaper, the Sangree Cristo Sentinel. 1858 01:43:49,520 --> 01:43:53,400 Speaker 1: The Sentinel is probably best summarized as a print version 1859 01:43:53,479 --> 01:43:56,880 Speaker 1: of the Facebook comments from some of your older relatives 1860 01:43:56,960 --> 01:44:00,800 Speaker 1: that you've hopefully long since muted. It's the guy who 1861 01:44:00,920 --> 01:44:03,840 Speaker 1: doesn't know when to stop booming on about Obama at 1862 01:44:03,880 --> 01:44:07,960 Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving table. But in a stream of consciousness, unedited 1863 01:44:08,200 --> 01:44:12,360 Speaker 1: print format, we're gonna let George lay out what the 1864 01:44:12,479 --> 01:44:16,240 Speaker 1: Sentinel is about in his own words. We didn't get 1865 01:44:16,360 --> 01:44:18,760 Speaker 1: much joy out of trying to speak with him, and 1866 01:44:19,000 --> 01:44:22,799 Speaker 1: not for lack of trying. I approached his office numerous times, 1867 01:44:23,160 --> 01:44:26,040 Speaker 1: knocking on the door and trying to have a good 1868 01:44:26,080 --> 01:44:29,080 Speaker 1: old chat with George. But luckily he did go on 1869 01:44:29,200 --> 01:44:33,040 Speaker 1: the record for the Texas t l in Exile podcast. 1870 01:44:34,240 --> 01:44:38,200 Speaker 1: This kind of spectacular programming two white dudes shooting the 1871 01:44:38,240 --> 01:44:42,080 Speaker 1: breeze is certainly a tried and true recipe for success 1872 01:44:42,240 --> 01:44:45,760 Speaker 1: in the podcasting space. But you could be forgiven for 1873 01:44:46,200 --> 01:44:50,880 Speaker 1: not having heard of this particular podcast before, because even 1874 01:44:50,960 --> 01:44:54,200 Speaker 1: though we knew about it, it took us forever to 1875 01:44:54,520 --> 01:44:59,800 Speaker 1: even find it on the hit podcasting app Rumble. Wait 1876 01:45:00,280 --> 01:45:04,280 Speaker 1: to Custer County from the Antarondack Mountains in northern New 1877 01:45:04,320 --> 01:45:08,000 Speaker 1: York about twelve years ago, and Uh, the Wois and 1878 01:45:08,080 --> 01:45:13,760 Speaker 1: I were basically political and second amended refugees. We had 1879 01:45:13,800 --> 01:45:18,040 Speaker 1: a couple of friends who had moved to uh, southern Colorado, 1880 01:45:19,000 --> 01:45:24,080 Speaker 1: and they said that, Uh, the most conservative county maybe 1881 01:45:24,160 --> 01:45:28,439 Speaker 1: in the state, So certainly in southern Colorado is Custer County. 1882 01:45:29,280 --> 01:45:33,080 Speaker 1: It's about an hour and a half south of Colorado Springs, 1883 01:45:33,280 --> 01:45:40,760 Speaker 1: high in the Rocky Mountains, population hundred m a ranking community, 1884 01:45:42,120 --> 01:45:48,040 Speaker 1: stunning dues, just simply beautiful. Uh. Two small towns right 1885 01:45:48,080 --> 01:45:50,479 Speaker 1: in the middle of the county. Each was about five 1886 01:45:50,560 --> 01:45:55,240 Speaker 1: six hundred people in it, and hardcore conservatives. I'd say 1887 01:45:55,800 --> 01:46:01,879 Speaker 1: six of the county's registered Republicans. Even in his conservative paradise, 1888 01:46:02,360 --> 01:46:05,240 Speaker 1: George found that most folks couldn't live up to his 1889 01:46:05,760 --> 01:46:12,800 Speaker 1: high standards for political engagement. After Obama got elected his 1890 01:46:12,920 --> 01:46:18,360 Speaker 1: first term, totally over that four year period, UH, interest 1891 01:46:18,439 --> 01:46:22,760 Speaker 1: in the Tea party started to diminishing as Obama was 1892 01:46:22,880 --> 01:46:27,400 Speaker 1: destroying the country. Um, after he got elected the second time, 1893 01:46:27,840 --> 01:46:31,920 Speaker 1: we had our first meeting since his election in January, 1894 01:46:32,800 --> 01:46:35,400 Speaker 1: and normally at that point after four years, we were 1895 01:46:35,400 --> 01:46:40,080 Speaker 1: again fourty sixty people showing up. At that meeting, only 1896 01:46:40,560 --> 01:46:44,000 Speaker 1: twelve people showed up, and it was doom and gloom. 1897 01:46:44,320 --> 01:46:47,960 Speaker 1: You know, Obama's destroying the conscious. Nothing we can do, 1898 01:46:48,120 --> 01:46:51,200 Speaker 1: blah blah blah. We started talking law pool, you know, 1899 01:46:51,240 --> 01:46:56,280 Speaker 1: we've got to keep Custter County red and uh and uh. 1900 01:46:57,040 --> 01:47:01,479 Speaker 1: And the fact came up, which is the problem in 1901 01:47:01,560 --> 01:47:05,960 Speaker 1: the county forever, was that the local newspaper, in the 1902 01:47:06,040 --> 01:47:10,479 Speaker 1: only newspaper in the county was extremely liberal paper. And 1903 01:47:10,600 --> 01:47:13,479 Speaker 1: we had done research over the years and we found 1904 01:47:13,520 --> 01:47:18,840 Speaker 1: out that a corporal America, this phenomenon was common, that 1905 01:47:19,080 --> 01:47:22,880 Speaker 1: the rural counties that tended to have liberal papers. And 1906 01:47:23,080 --> 01:47:26,000 Speaker 1: it's just to goes the lists vegetate to that media 1907 01:47:26,200 --> 01:47:28,760 Speaker 1: and they know they could have an influence on the 1908 01:47:28,840 --> 01:47:33,360 Speaker 1: population via that. So I mean, I mean it was over. 1909 01:47:33,560 --> 01:47:36,880 Speaker 1: We went home and on the way home, I turned 1910 01:47:36,880 --> 01:47:40,720 Speaker 1: to Advice said we're gonna start a paper. So uh, 1911 01:47:40,960 --> 01:47:44,040 Speaker 1: next day, I like it's been a whole day building 1912 01:47:44,080 --> 01:47:46,680 Speaker 1: a business plan on how to start a Christian conservative 1913 01:47:46,720 --> 01:47:50,320 Speaker 1: newspaper in the rural community. Now, we couldn't find the 1914 01:47:50,360 --> 01:47:54,080 Speaker 1: research that George is talking about, and that's probably because 1915 01:47:54,560 --> 01:47:59,160 Speaker 1: it's not true. What we can find is that largely 1916 01:47:59,320 --> 01:48:03,400 Speaker 1: small newspapers closed in the past fifteen years. To learn 1917 01:48:03,439 --> 01:48:06,679 Speaker 1: more about the newspaper business in southern Colorado, we spoke 1918 01:48:06,720 --> 01:48:10,120 Speaker 1: to George's arch rival, the publisher of the only other 1919 01:48:10,240 --> 01:48:13,639 Speaker 1: publication in the west, or at least the only other 1920 01:48:13,720 --> 01:48:18,519 Speaker 1: one in the valley, Jordan Hedberg. You are the editor 1921 01:48:18,800 --> 01:48:21,800 Speaker 1: of the owner and publisher and I could barely spell 1922 01:48:21,880 --> 01:48:24,479 Speaker 1: my own name, so the publisher of the Wet Mountain 1923 01:48:24,520 --> 01:48:29,519 Speaker 1: Tribute newspaper. Jordan's and George aren't exactly best pals, largely 1924 01:48:29,560 --> 01:48:33,439 Speaker 1: thanks to George's attacks on Jordan's and his publication. We 1925 01:48:33,600 --> 01:48:36,320 Speaker 1: asked Jordan to give us a sense of the competition 1926 01:48:36,520 --> 01:48:39,960 Speaker 1: in the local media market and for his overall thoughts 1927 01:48:40,120 --> 01:48:42,680 Speaker 1: on the Sentinel. I think it's his lies. I mean, 1928 01:48:42,800 --> 01:48:45,920 Speaker 1: that's the problem with the Sentinel. I don't see the 1929 01:48:46,120 --> 01:48:50,240 Speaker 1: media spaces as zero sum game. Um, if somebody wants 1930 01:48:50,280 --> 01:48:54,320 Speaker 1: to have a openly conservative newspaper, in this town. I 1931 01:48:54,680 --> 01:48:57,839 Speaker 1: think there's plenty of readers. Um, it doesn't really compete 1932 01:48:57,920 --> 01:49:01,000 Speaker 1: with me because we do just community news and we 1933 01:49:01,040 --> 01:49:04,320 Speaker 1: always have since three so we've been here for a 1934 01:49:04,360 --> 01:49:07,439 Speaker 1: little while. But I don't see it as a zero 1935 01:49:07,560 --> 01:49:10,479 Speaker 1: sum game until you start lying about things because you're 1936 01:49:10,520 --> 01:49:13,600 Speaker 1: in what you perceived to be a power struggle. So 1937 01:49:13,760 --> 01:49:15,800 Speaker 1: that's the problem of the Sentinel. There's there's no problem 1938 01:49:15,800 --> 01:49:17,760 Speaker 1: with the Sentinel overall, other than that they like to 1939 01:49:17,800 --> 01:49:24,080 Speaker 1: tell lies two kind of justify their existence. Yeah, Jordan's 1940 01:49:24,120 --> 01:49:28,000 Speaker 1: take on the founding of the Sentinel, whose logo prominently 1941 01:49:28,080 --> 01:49:30,040 Speaker 1: features a bald eagle on the cover. If you hadn't 1942 01:49:30,160 --> 01:49:32,479 Speaker 1: quite picked up on the vibe yet, it was a 1943 01:49:32,600 --> 01:49:35,960 Speaker 1: little different. You know. They got started in their minds 1944 01:49:36,040 --> 01:49:40,360 Speaker 1: during the Tea Party movement to combat hyper liberal newspaper. 1945 01:49:40,439 --> 01:49:42,559 Speaker 1: But they only labeled the Tribune that because they needed 1946 01:49:42,560 --> 01:49:45,120 Speaker 1: an enemy. You know, they were they're very whipped up 1947 01:49:45,160 --> 01:49:49,000 Speaker 1: about Obama getting elected and Um, at the time, there 1948 01:49:49,040 --> 01:49:51,360 Speaker 1: had been that Aurora shooting, and so the real reason 1949 01:49:51,439 --> 01:49:55,080 Speaker 1: they really got started was when Carroto put a assault 1950 01:49:55,160 --> 01:49:58,840 Speaker 1: weapons magazine ban into place, so you couldn't have anything 1951 01:49:58,920 --> 01:50:02,360 Speaker 1: that could fire more than fifteen rounds after the Aurora 1952 01:50:02,880 --> 01:50:06,200 Speaker 1: Theater shooting, which was I guess ten years ago this week. Um, 1953 01:50:06,960 --> 01:50:08,640 Speaker 1: so that that was one of the big things that 1954 01:50:08,720 --> 01:50:11,120 Speaker 1: really got him started, was what they felt like an 1955 01:50:11,120 --> 01:50:14,439 Speaker 1: attack on weapons. But they did it in a community 1956 01:50:14,560 --> 01:50:18,000 Speaker 1: that's very you know, pro Second Amendment. I mean at 1957 01:50:18,040 --> 01:50:21,800 Speaker 1: the time it was probably Republican. These days it's fifty 1958 01:50:21,880 --> 01:50:25,639 Speaker 1: but still a majority. Um, even the moderates and most 1959 01:50:25,720 --> 01:50:29,000 Speaker 1: Democrats probably have guns and are okay with the idea 1960 01:50:29,080 --> 01:50:32,880 Speaker 1: of that. But they had a much more militant style saying, hey, 1961 01:50:32,920 --> 01:50:36,400 Speaker 1: we should be allowed to arm ourselves with whatever. But 1962 01:50:36,520 --> 01:50:38,160 Speaker 1: again they still had to create a bunch of lies 1963 01:50:38,280 --> 01:50:41,280 Speaker 1: locally saying that, um, you know, at the time it 1964 01:50:41,360 --> 01:50:47,000 Speaker 1: was the former owner that the Tribune was hyperum liberal communist, 1965 01:50:47,280 --> 01:50:53,599 Speaker 1: you know, against guns, which wasn't the truth. Gun rights 1966 01:50:53,840 --> 01:50:56,200 Speaker 1: and the threat of gun confiscation have been a constant 1967 01:50:56,240 --> 01:50:58,800 Speaker 1: source of profitable panic for agitators on the right for 1968 01:50:58,960 --> 01:51:02,560 Speaker 1: decades now. In Westcliffe, that doesn't really seem to be 1969 01:51:02,800 --> 01:51:07,320 Speaker 1: much controversy about guns. People who want them have them, 1970 01:51:07,600 --> 01:51:11,040 Speaker 1: and people who don't don't. On my drive from the 1971 01:51:11,120 --> 01:51:12,920 Speaker 1: airport to the ranch, I stopped at a couple of 1972 01:51:13,000 --> 01:51:16,680 Speaker 1: gun stores, and I've seen people lining up to by magazines, 1973 01:51:16,760 --> 01:51:19,320 Speaker 1: guns and other things that they'd worried about the government banning, 1974 01:51:19,880 --> 01:51:22,599 Speaker 1: which seems a very odd reaction to a mass murder 1975 01:51:22,640 --> 01:51:25,800 Speaker 1: in your state. But once I got to rural Colorado 1976 01:51:25,880 --> 01:51:28,800 Speaker 1: and pass Mantique's gun room, there wasn't really any of that. 1977 01:51:29,160 --> 01:51:31,400 Speaker 1: It was just some old dudes depining about the relative 1978 01:51:31,439 --> 01:51:34,559 Speaker 1: value of different big bore revolvers and then SKS, which 1979 01:51:34,600 --> 01:51:37,160 Speaker 1: has been entirely violated by someone's attempt to make it 1980 01:51:37,240 --> 01:51:41,519 Speaker 1: more modern. George apparently has seen an earlier mass shooting 1981 01:51:41,560 --> 01:51:45,160 Speaker 1: in Aurora as an opportunity for the liberals and rhinos 1982 01:51:45,320 --> 01:51:48,479 Speaker 1: he's so loath to take away his guns, and an 1983 01:51:48,520 --> 01:51:52,040 Speaker 1: opportunity for him to take a stand against him. He 1984 01:51:52,160 --> 01:51:53,880 Speaker 1: decided to take a stand at a place where no 1985 01:51:53,920 --> 01:51:56,320 Speaker 1: one really disagreed with him and against the thing that 1986 01:51:56,520 --> 01:51:59,360 Speaker 1: wasn't really happening. But nonetheless he decided to rally the 1987 01:51:59,400 --> 01:52:02,160 Speaker 1: troops and whole as well. Well. But he described what 1988 01:52:02,280 --> 01:52:05,519 Speaker 1: he held about. I don't know, six or seven years ago, 1989 01:52:05,640 --> 01:52:09,160 Speaker 1: t l the lists and called Ronald Endeavor passed the 1990 01:52:10,240 --> 01:52:13,200 Speaker 1: gun uh gun laws, and they one of them was 1991 01:52:13,640 --> 01:52:19,439 Speaker 1: the magazine limitation law and before there's no limitation and 1992 01:52:19,520 --> 01:52:22,000 Speaker 1: they passed laws that you can't have any you can't 1993 01:52:22,040 --> 01:52:25,680 Speaker 1: pay any new magazines. Was more than fifteen rounds in it, 1994 01:52:25,880 --> 01:52:29,280 Speaker 1: but they all went to grandfather. Now during this the 1995 01:52:29,400 --> 01:52:32,880 Speaker 1: legislative session, as you as you remembered, the whole state 1996 01:52:33,000 --> 01:52:35,360 Speaker 1: was up and on about this. I mean it was 1997 01:52:35,439 --> 01:52:40,000 Speaker 1: demonstrations in Denver. I mean, uh, we were passed off 1998 01:52:40,360 --> 01:52:48,519 Speaker 1: and the SLPs passed it. So Westcliffe has uh July 1999 01:52:48,680 --> 01:52:52,000 Speaker 1: Forces parade that we actually took over. The settle took 2000 01:52:52,040 --> 01:52:56,120 Speaker 1: over at a couple of years. Uh and uh and 2001 01:52:56,200 --> 01:52:59,840 Speaker 1: there's usually maybe twenty five thirty floats in the entry. 2002 01:53:00,160 --> 01:53:04,479 Speaker 1: You know, they got the horses, who know, hold on, 2003 01:53:04,600 --> 01:53:07,400 Speaker 1: hold on, George. Let's dwell on that for a minute. 2004 01:53:07,600 --> 01:53:10,360 Speaker 1: When when I mentioned that, I came down there and 2005 01:53:10,400 --> 01:53:13,280 Speaker 1: then you had like five or six hundred people in 2006 01:53:13,439 --> 01:53:17,720 Speaker 1: this parade, Um, I think it might have got glossed over. 2007 01:53:17,920 --> 01:53:21,680 Speaker 1: How big are these towns to start with? Because it's 2008 01:53:21,880 --> 01:53:26,120 Speaker 1: it's basically a combination of Silver Cliff and West Cliff, right, Yeah, 2009 01:53:26,200 --> 01:53:29,960 Speaker 1: each town has about five people out of five people 2010 01:53:32,720 --> 01:53:35,200 Speaker 1: out of out of a total of a thousand people. 2011 01:53:36,360 --> 01:53:38,400 Speaker 1: I mean you you can you can describe it, but 2012 01:53:38,520 --> 01:53:43,720 Speaker 1: describe that to the listeners for a little bit about um, 2013 01:53:45,960 --> 01:53:50,040 Speaker 1: what that parade looks like versus how many people are 2014 01:53:50,080 --> 01:53:56,759 Speaker 1: on the sidewalk. Yeah, in the in the Pea Party 2015 01:53:56,880 --> 01:54:00,639 Speaker 1: had an entry and we usually had maybe people marks 2016 01:54:00,720 --> 01:54:03,360 Speaker 1: down with you know, gas and flags and stuff. But 2017 01:54:03,560 --> 01:54:08,080 Speaker 1: that that those gun laws, the MacMan I mean, just 2018 01:54:08,680 --> 01:54:12,400 Speaker 1: energized the sentinel tremendously. So we decided a couple of 2019 01:54:12,520 --> 01:54:16,800 Speaker 1: months before July fourth that we were gonna turn the 2020 01:54:17,120 --> 01:54:21,679 Speaker 1: Tea Party parade entry into a Second Amendment protests uh entry. 2021 01:54:22,840 --> 01:54:29,000 Speaker 1: So we printed up flyers and uh we innovated Southern 2022 01:54:29,560 --> 01:54:34,280 Speaker 1: Colorado every gun shot, park shot everything with thousands of 2023 01:54:34,440 --> 01:54:38,600 Speaker 1: flyers come to the Westland July forth, saying and told 2024 01:54:38,640 --> 01:54:41,920 Speaker 1: them what part to go to, what place to go to, 2025 01:54:42,560 --> 01:54:46,200 Speaker 1: and protested the c S laws and stuff like that 2026 01:54:47,600 --> 01:54:52,880 Speaker 1: and so uh uh So that morning the priest parts 2027 01:54:52,920 --> 01:54:57,040 Speaker 1: of Dena Cross, uh we set up shop in front 2028 01:54:57,040 --> 01:55:00,600 Speaker 1: of uh uh. We told the parade or gus, we 2029 01:55:00,720 --> 01:55:03,720 Speaker 1: might have some more people coming. So we've had a 2030 01:55:03,840 --> 01:55:06,120 Speaker 1: field where we could set up, and we set up 2031 01:55:06,160 --> 01:55:08,560 Speaker 1: there and we had a couple of sir we had 2032 01:55:08,600 --> 01:55:11,800 Speaker 1: three of us the guys there to check guns. We said, 2033 01:55:11,840 --> 01:55:15,440 Speaker 1: you know, you could bring uh long rifles, no magazines. 2034 01:55:15,480 --> 01:55:19,720 Speaker 1: They got to be clear shoulder uh carried on the 2035 01:55:19,920 --> 01:55:22,600 Speaker 1: holter pistols, you know. And we had all us people 2036 01:55:22,640 --> 01:55:25,920 Speaker 1: to check for safety and stuff like that. And so 2037 01:55:26,080 --> 01:55:28,720 Speaker 1: we had no idea how many people are gonna show off. 2038 01:55:29,840 --> 01:55:33,560 Speaker 1: And normally there's twenty five entries and maybe a hundred 2039 01:55:33,640 --> 01:55:38,000 Speaker 1: fifty people in the parade, maybe two hundred total, And 2040 01:55:38,120 --> 01:55:41,720 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, uh, on Main Street where our 2041 01:55:41,800 --> 01:55:45,200 Speaker 1: field was, around eight thirty, there was a traffic jam 2042 01:55:45,880 --> 01:55:50,040 Speaker 1: that went down like a mile both ways, and people 2043 01:55:50,120 --> 01:55:53,560 Speaker 1: were turning into our part a lot field there and 2044 01:55:54,200 --> 01:55:58,360 Speaker 1: going nowhere else and they kept common and common and 2045 01:55:58,600 --> 01:56:03,000 Speaker 1: common and comming. This went offor hour and a half 2046 01:56:03,480 --> 01:56:09,000 Speaker 1: the sha for freaking out. We had over five laundret 2047 01:56:09,240 --> 01:56:14,440 Speaker 1: heavily farm citizens there that morning, with about twenty military 2048 01:56:14,560 --> 01:56:19,760 Speaker 1: trucks and a half we had a Korean War half 2049 01:56:19,840 --> 01:56:25,000 Speaker 1: tract there with a fifty cow on top. Jildan the 2050 01:56:25,080 --> 01:56:28,320 Speaker 1: Tribune publisher, so things a little bit differently. So, but 2051 01:56:28,520 --> 01:56:30,760 Speaker 1: right before the sentinel got started, they were like, Hey, 2052 01:56:30,800 --> 01:56:34,680 Speaker 1: we're gonna advertise, and they did it. All across the state. 2053 01:56:34,760 --> 01:56:38,400 Speaker 1: They said, bring your big black evil guns to um 2054 01:56:38,760 --> 01:56:42,160 Speaker 1: Custer County. And the problem is is, you know, that 2055 01:56:42,280 --> 01:56:44,800 Speaker 1: was the issue. It was this is a family event 2056 01:56:44,840 --> 01:56:47,160 Speaker 1: and so ever since then. So what happened was in response, 2057 01:56:47,960 --> 01:56:51,040 Speaker 1: the Republican town Council and the Republican Chamber of Commerce 2058 01:56:51,080 --> 01:56:53,040 Speaker 1: all said, we're not going to have a parade. We 2059 01:56:53,200 --> 01:56:55,840 Speaker 1: we can't have a bunch of Rando's showing up right 2060 01:56:55,880 --> 01:57:01,320 Speaker 1: after the Aurora Theater shootings, carrying of amounts of firepower, 2061 01:57:02,080 --> 01:57:04,040 Speaker 1: even if you claim it's unloaded or whatever. We just 2062 01:57:04,120 --> 01:57:06,560 Speaker 1: can't have that for a family event. And so the 2063 01:57:06,640 --> 01:57:08,320 Speaker 1: thing is is they took out a permit and did 2064 01:57:08,360 --> 01:57:11,720 Speaker 1: the parade themselves. So that's really how things. So Fourth 2065 01:57:11,760 --> 01:57:15,640 Speaker 1: of July for them is sort of their anniversary every year. 2066 01:57:15,760 --> 01:57:18,800 Speaker 1: You know, they're very they really consider that whole thing 2067 01:57:19,440 --> 01:57:22,400 Speaker 1: to be that way. But that's really what happened. And 2068 01:57:22,520 --> 01:57:26,560 Speaker 1: it's a conservative area. There's no bravery MARCHI assault rifles 2069 01:57:26,600 --> 01:57:30,680 Speaker 1: Sucusta County. Now, if they've done in downtown Denver, where 2070 01:57:31,200 --> 01:57:33,480 Speaker 1: guns are banned, or at least those types of guns, 2071 01:57:33,800 --> 01:57:35,480 Speaker 1: at least you could say they had a backbone and 2072 01:57:36,040 --> 01:57:39,320 Speaker 1: taking down. But it's not MLK gang. So the problem 2073 01:57:39,400 --> 01:57:41,560 Speaker 1: the Sentinel is the lies. You know, if they're just 2074 01:57:41,640 --> 01:57:44,440 Speaker 1: a conservative paper, fine, they're allowed to have their opinion, 2075 01:57:44,520 --> 01:57:49,520 Speaker 1: but they tend to tell lies constantly. George had miraculously 2076 01:57:49,880 --> 01:57:51,800 Speaker 1: managed to turn a mass murder into a sort of 2077 01:57:51,880 --> 01:57:55,040 Speaker 1: pseudo victory parade for a cultural war he was fighting 2078 01:57:55,160 --> 01:57:58,960 Speaker 1: every day with his newspaper. Soon enough and large he 2079 01:57:59,040 --> 01:58:02,080 Speaker 1: sanks to this parade. The culture war will be opening 2080 01:58:02,120 --> 01:58:12,400 Speaker 1: a whole new front on this tenacious unicorn ranch. Of course, 2081 01:58:12,800 --> 01:58:16,040 Speaker 1: the Sentinel has opinions about the ranch and transpoke in general. 2082 01:58:16,840 --> 01:58:19,840 Speaker 1: When we arrived in Westcliffe Garretson, I grabbed a coffee 2083 01:58:19,840 --> 01:58:22,840 Speaker 1: at Peregrine Coffee Roasters, long term friends at the ranch 2084 01:58:22,880 --> 01:58:25,040 Speaker 1: and supporters of me staying up all night with Paul 2085 01:58:25,120 --> 01:58:27,760 Speaker 1: and an up all day with Penny and j. We 2086 01:58:27,880 --> 01:58:30,240 Speaker 1: also grabbed a coffee of The Sentinel from a spencer, 2087 01:58:30,720 --> 01:58:34,080 Speaker 1: pulled up a chair and started a live reading. Even 2088 01:58:34,120 --> 01:58:36,080 Speaker 1: after a year of me being aware of their rhetoric, 2089 01:58:36,400 --> 01:58:40,880 Speaker 1: it did not disappoint. So I just I just sarched 2090 01:58:40,920 --> 01:58:45,040 Speaker 1: the word gender on the Sentinel's website. We got a 2091 01:58:45,120 --> 01:58:47,520 Speaker 1: We got an article on social emotional Learning, which is 2092 01:58:47,560 --> 01:58:50,800 Speaker 1: basically the al right trying to rebrand their like a 2093 01:58:50,840 --> 01:58:53,920 Speaker 1: critical race theory ship, but make it even broader. Um. 2094 01:58:54,080 --> 01:58:56,440 Speaker 1: And we do have an article from January of last 2095 01:58:56,520 --> 01:59:00,160 Speaker 1: year called meat at the gun toting tenacious unicorn ins 2096 01:59:00,160 --> 01:59:02,880 Speaker 1: an happy Valley. That's a let's click on that and 2097 01:59:02,960 --> 01:59:05,200 Speaker 1: see what the Sentinel has to say. What is this? 2098 01:59:05,360 --> 01:59:09,680 Speaker 1: What is this guy's name, the Eric Siegel? Yes, High 2099 01:59:09,720 --> 01:59:11,920 Speaker 1: Country new Oh that's then what they've done. They have 2100 01:59:11,960 --> 01:59:14,360 Speaker 1: just they's plage rights piece fro high Gundry News. Oh 2101 01:59:14,480 --> 01:59:17,160 Speaker 1: so they just stroll this from somewhere else. If we're 2102 01:59:17,240 --> 01:59:19,200 Speaker 1: stopping here to point out that the Sentinel does this 2103 01:59:19,320 --> 01:59:21,960 Speaker 1: a lot. It's not clear if they have permission or not, 2104 01:59:22,120 --> 01:59:24,080 Speaker 1: but they seem to dedicate at least half their print 2105 01:59:24,120 --> 01:59:27,000 Speaker 1: prages to aggregating content. But it's mostly from the far 2106 01:59:27,160 --> 01:59:30,800 Speaker 1: right of the internet. Notable examples include a really spectacularly 2107 01:59:30,920 --> 01:59:34,000 Speaker 1: racist piece on anti material rifles which we will not read, 2108 01:59:34,640 --> 01:59:37,560 Speaker 1: and numerous fire right commentary sites which turned shreds of 2109 01:59:37,640 --> 01:59:41,440 Speaker 1: news into a thousand words of panic rundering opinion. Anyway, 2110 01:59:41,720 --> 01:59:43,240 Speaker 1: let's see what they have to say about the pretty 2111 01:59:43,280 --> 01:59:45,920 Speaker 1: good article of Eric Siegel wrote about the Unicorn ranch 2112 01:59:46,080 --> 01:59:49,680 Speaker 1: for High Country News. Note The Sentinel has predominantly featured 2113 01:59:49,680 --> 01:59:53,160 Speaker 1: in this article negatively, of course. Hold onto your cowboy hats, 2114 01:59:53,200 --> 01:59:56,120 Speaker 1: fellow patriots, this is one wild ride. For the first 2115 01:59:56,120 --> 01:59:58,440 Speaker 1: time ever, we are warning our readers that the article 2116 01:59:58,480 --> 02:00:01,800 Speaker 1: below is very, very disturbing in many aspects. It may 2117 02:00:01,840 --> 02:00:04,680 Speaker 1: not be appropriate for some folks or children. Are apologies, 2118 02:00:04,840 --> 02:00:07,040 Speaker 1: but the citizens of this wonderful county need to know 2119 02:00:07,280 --> 02:00:12,720 Speaker 1: how the county has been betrayed so apparent, I guess 2120 02:00:12,760 --> 02:00:16,080 Speaker 1: the article is kind of a yeah, so they do 2121 02:00:16,160 --> 02:00:19,000 Speaker 1: have an edit at the bottom that that's the central 2122 02:00:19,120 --> 02:00:22,040 Speaker 1: road based on the article. Well, folks, the veil has 2123 02:00:22,120 --> 02:00:24,360 Speaker 1: been lifted. For those of you who haven't seen or 2124 02:00:24,400 --> 02:00:28,840 Speaker 1: experienced left wing fascism here it is from Biden to 2125 02:00:29,000 --> 02:00:32,760 Speaker 1: Polis and all the way down to this hypocritical bunch 2126 02:00:33,080 --> 02:00:38,400 Speaker 1: of hate filled xenophobes. They're all the same, felt with hate, paranoia, solbrighteousness, intolerance, 2127 02:00:38,400 --> 02:00:40,240 Speaker 1: and the desire to rule and control, and obsessed with violence. 2128 02:00:40,440 --> 02:00:43,240 Speaker 1: Their radical, narrow minded view of the world and our 2129 02:00:43,400 --> 02:00:46,560 Speaker 1: rural community is the only allowable viewpoint. All of a sudden, 2130 02:00:46,560 --> 02:00:49,560 Speaker 1: the citizens of Custer County are fascists and nazis this 2131 02:00:49,680 --> 02:00:52,880 Speaker 1: fascist rhetoric. The George himself a transplant from outside the 2132 02:00:52,960 --> 02:00:55,960 Speaker 1: valley who has tried to transform local politics. It's referring 2133 02:00:56,040 --> 02:00:59,320 Speaker 1: to it's what sparked off the confrontation that bought me 2134 02:00:59,520 --> 02:01:02,680 Speaker 1: Aldough and pull to the ranch last year. Yeah, so 2135 02:01:02,920 --> 02:01:04,640 Speaker 1: that one wasn't even a parade. What it was was 2136 02:01:04,760 --> 02:01:07,040 Speaker 1: it was a protest on the fourth of July because 2137 02:01:07,080 --> 02:01:10,480 Speaker 1: during COVID they weren't doing any parade things, so they 2138 02:01:10,600 --> 02:01:13,480 Speaker 1: just did this as a protest, right, and so the 2139 02:01:13,520 --> 02:01:16,240 Speaker 1: sheriff and everybody, I mean, you couldn't distinguish it from 2140 02:01:16,280 --> 02:01:19,560 Speaker 1: a Fourth of July prade, except there wasn't. I don't 2141 02:01:19,600 --> 02:01:22,520 Speaker 1: think the fire department and stuff took you know, the 2142 02:01:22,640 --> 02:01:26,200 Speaker 1: Sheriff's office and the fire department didn't take part. And 2143 02:01:26,240 --> 02:01:27,840 Speaker 1: it was just it was really a bunch of people 2144 02:01:27,920 --> 02:01:31,640 Speaker 1: with on horses, marching guns, stuff like that. But the 2145 02:01:31,720 --> 02:01:33,640 Speaker 1: flags were a little more disturbing. You know, most of 2146 02:01:33,640 --> 02:01:36,480 Speaker 1: the American flags were replaced with three percent flags or 2147 02:01:37,320 --> 02:01:39,840 Speaker 1: the thin blue line flags. Um, there was a couple 2148 02:01:39,880 --> 02:01:43,520 Speaker 1: of Confederate flags. Always fun. I still can't figure out 2149 02:01:45,960 --> 02:01:50,040 Speaker 1: I still can't figure out the Confederate South here. Yeah, 2150 02:01:50,240 --> 02:01:52,400 Speaker 1: you know, but there is that lost cause myth that 2151 02:01:52,560 --> 02:01:56,880 Speaker 1: does take place here and and you know, they'll say 2152 02:01:56,920 --> 02:02:00,440 Speaker 1: it's not a racist flag, but it absolutely isn't. This 2153 02:02:00,760 --> 02:02:04,120 Speaker 1: was the parade the Unicorns called out, and this was 2154 02:02:04,200 --> 02:02:07,160 Speaker 1: what put them at the center of Gramlich's conspiracy riddled 2155 02:02:07,200 --> 02:02:10,840 Speaker 1: hate machine. Jordan gave us a little more insight into 2156 02:02:10,920 --> 02:02:14,560 Speaker 1: exactly who those fascist groups were, the people that The 2157 02:02:14,600 --> 02:02:18,240 Speaker 1: Sentinel brought to town for their little protest parade. George 2158 02:02:18,280 --> 02:02:20,560 Speaker 1: grime Like is a member of Oathkeepers. We've been able 2159 02:02:20,560 --> 02:02:24,040 Speaker 1: to confirm that through not only himself, but Thompson Writers 2160 02:02:24,120 --> 02:02:28,920 Speaker 1: had an investigative reporter that confirmed that for us um so, 2161 02:02:29,000 --> 02:02:31,680 Speaker 1: Oathkeepers is a big one three percent. You'll see some 2162 02:02:31,800 --> 02:02:34,000 Speaker 1: of those shirts around that the two of them are 2163 02:02:34,080 --> 02:02:37,120 Speaker 1: kind of synonymous. That none of it's super organized. You know, 2164 02:02:37,280 --> 02:02:40,920 Speaker 1: it's kind of like saying that antifa's superorganized. It's it's 2165 02:02:41,080 --> 02:02:44,200 Speaker 1: very decent. The problem is is that they do write 2166 02:02:44,240 --> 02:02:47,760 Speaker 1: extreme things, and I think people like um myself, and 2167 02:02:47,880 --> 02:02:52,680 Speaker 1: then you know, definitely the Unicorn ranch suffers because they 2168 02:02:53,480 --> 02:02:55,920 Speaker 1: they can't really spread their message without an enemy. And 2169 02:02:56,000 --> 02:02:58,600 Speaker 1: you were asking earlier how how much influence do they have? Ye, 2170 02:02:58,840 --> 02:03:01,880 Speaker 1: not a lot. They have about out eight hundred subscriptions 2171 02:03:01,960 --> 02:03:05,000 Speaker 1: from what I can tell, some receipts accidentally got put 2172 02:03:05,080 --> 02:03:07,920 Speaker 1: in my box versus there. Because we're the wet Mound 2173 02:03:07,960 --> 02:03:11,240 Speaker 1: Publishing company. Yeah um, and they are the Mountain Publishing 2174 02:03:12,440 --> 02:03:14,840 Speaker 1: the post Office at all their glory occasionally give me 2175 02:03:14,920 --> 02:03:18,440 Speaker 1: a win. But you know there're eight hundreds and maybe 2176 02:03:18,480 --> 02:03:22,480 Speaker 1: a thousand by their own own numbers. The sentinels stance 2177 02:03:22,600 --> 02:03:27,160 Speaker 1: on vaccines will definitely not shock you, considering everything else 2178 02:03:27,240 --> 02:03:31,000 Speaker 1: we've said about George and the Sentinel thus far. So 2179 02:03:31,400 --> 02:03:34,320 Speaker 1: this comes from market ticket dot org. Effective as a 2180 02:03:34,360 --> 02:03:38,480 Speaker 1: primary infection against severe, critical or fatal COVID nineteen reinfection 2181 02:03:38,600 --> 02:03:42,400 Speaker 1: with ninety seven point three irrespected a variant of primary 2182 02:03:42,440 --> 02:03:45,920 Speaker 1: infection or reinfection and were similar and with no evidence 2183 02:03:45,920 --> 02:03:48,520 Speaker 1: for waning some results. We found the subgroup analyzies for 2184 02:03:48,520 --> 02:03:50,920 Speaker 1: those less than fifty years of age. Got it? No, 2185 02:03:51,520 --> 02:03:54,320 Speaker 1: let me explain it. If you've got COVID ninteen lived, 2186 02:03:54,600 --> 02:03:58,440 Speaker 1: you're more than certain with a very narrow confidence band 2187 02:03:59,240 --> 02:04:03,200 Speaker 1: protected against severe or fatal d in hospital dead second infection, 2188 02:04:03,360 --> 02:04:08,640 Speaker 1: even though coronavirus is always mutate and I'm just going 2189 02:04:08,720 --> 02:04:11,760 Speaker 1: to check really quickly if that's what they're saying. Ah 2190 02:04:12,400 --> 02:04:14,960 Speaker 1: and normally yet they've quite a dis sort of out 2191 02:04:14,960 --> 02:04:18,240 Speaker 1: of context and there is no evidence of protection ever 2192 02:04:18,360 --> 02:04:23,280 Speaker 1: goes away. That is not what the quote says. If 2193 02:04:23,320 --> 02:04:25,200 Speaker 1: you look at the JAB, I think you get the picture. 2194 02:04:25,400 --> 02:04:31,040 Speaker 1: It's pseudo science babble, transphobia and general boomer anti wokism. 2195 02:04:31,520 --> 02:04:33,800 Speaker 1: Oh there's a piece here said about the You know, 2196 02:04:33,880 --> 02:04:36,280 Speaker 1: the U. S. Army is really struggling to recruit right now. 2197 02:04:36,400 --> 02:04:39,440 Speaker 1: Right Imagine you're an eighteen year old white Christian male 2198 02:04:39,600 --> 02:04:42,680 Speaker 1: in Georgia with a family history of military service. As 2199 02:04:42,720 --> 02:04:45,240 Speaker 1: you progress through your teen years, you watch Confederate statutes 2200 02:04:45,320 --> 02:04:48,640 Speaker 1: being torn down, a military base is being renamed, endless 2201 02:04:48,720 --> 02:04:51,880 Speaker 1: media and elitist demonization of your culture as racist and 2202 02:04:51,960 --> 02:04:55,280 Speaker 1: deplorable and backwards, and military and civilian leadership that thinks 2203 02:04:55,360 --> 02:04:58,840 Speaker 1: diversity and inclusion are fewer white men. It's the best 2204 02:04:58,880 --> 02:05:02,520 Speaker 1: thing since slight breast, I spread? Would you volunteer? Identity 2205 02:05:02,560 --> 02:05:05,640 Speaker 1: politics works both ways. Trash my tribe and I won't 2206 02:05:05,640 --> 02:05:08,280 Speaker 1: associate with you, let alone risk my life. Shouldn't be 2207 02:05:08,320 --> 02:05:10,840 Speaker 1: a shock then that those expressing a great deal of 2208 02:05:11,120 --> 02:05:19,000 Speaker 1: trust and confidence in the military dropping today. So that's why. 2209 02:05:19,160 --> 02:05:20,480 Speaker 1: And no one wants to do in the military because 2210 02:05:20,480 --> 02:05:23,680 Speaker 1: we're not doing enough confederacy. Wow, there's a whole piece 2211 02:05:23,720 --> 02:05:26,000 Speaker 1: on how to protect your wealth, but oh well, no, 2212 02:05:26,120 --> 02:05:30,160 Speaker 1: there's a whole section of this called the Second Amendment corner. Okay, interesting, 2213 02:05:30,320 --> 02:05:32,840 Speaker 1: there's a picture here of a bunch of a t 2214 02:05:32,960 --> 02:05:35,839 Speaker 1: F agents, obviously armed in plate carriers and a Pride flag. 2215 02:05:36,480 --> 02:05:38,120 Speaker 1: And this this is a joke, This is a funny, 2216 02:05:38,800 --> 02:05:40,880 Speaker 1: and it says corporate wants you to find the difference 2217 02:05:40,920 --> 02:05:43,200 Speaker 1: between this picture and this picture, and then it says 2218 02:05:43,240 --> 02:05:45,120 Speaker 1: they're the same picture. So I guess, and the A 2219 02:05:45,240 --> 02:05:50,440 Speaker 1: t F are out there enforcing Pride. The little meme 2220 02:05:50,520 --> 02:05:54,440 Speaker 1: comic that we've seen was frankly bizarre. The two pictures 2221 02:05:54,840 --> 02:05:57,720 Speaker 1: on this comic were an A t F a visit. 2222 02:05:58,480 --> 02:06:01,080 Speaker 1: This particular a t F of it got hyped up 2223 02:06:01,120 --> 02:06:03,080 Speaker 1: all over the right wing media as a raid, a 2224 02:06:03,160 --> 02:06:07,160 Speaker 1: gun grab, etcetera, etcetera. In fact, what happened was a 2225 02:06:07,240 --> 02:06:09,000 Speaker 1: dude purchased a lot of guns and the A t 2226 02:06:09,240 --> 02:06:11,680 Speaker 1: F came by to check if he had sold any 2227 02:06:11,760 --> 02:06:15,800 Speaker 1: of them. It's not routine, but it's not super uncommon 2228 02:06:15,880 --> 02:06:20,040 Speaker 1: either anyway. On one side was a photo of the 2229 02:06:20,120 --> 02:06:23,120 Speaker 1: A T F agents and plate carriers with rifles, and 2230 02:06:23,240 --> 02:06:27,920 Speaker 1: on the other was a Pride flag because apparently in 2231 02:06:28,080 --> 02:06:31,720 Speaker 1: Custer County the existence of queer people is a similar 2232 02:06:31,800 --> 02:06:35,240 Speaker 1: oppression to the people who did Waco coming to your door. 2233 02:06:36,000 --> 02:06:39,800 Speaker 1: Jordan's has also noted this turn in the rhetoric of 2234 02:06:39,880 --> 02:06:43,200 Speaker 1: the Sentinel. For two years, their sole purpose was to 2235 02:06:43,360 --> 02:06:46,600 Speaker 1: rail against COVID restrictions. Now, with many of those gone, 2236 02:06:47,080 --> 02:06:49,400 Speaker 1: along with twenty two people from the county where the 2237 02:06:49,480 --> 02:06:53,720 Speaker 1: average age of sixty, they've pivoted to culture war topics 2238 02:06:54,360 --> 02:06:57,840 Speaker 1: when election fraud and COVID don't seem to have stuck. 2239 02:06:58,160 --> 02:07:02,600 Speaker 1: Now it's just we're it. Um. It was all you know, 2240 02:07:02,680 --> 02:07:06,520 Speaker 1: the big live the election was stolen, critical race theory, 2241 02:07:06,560 --> 02:07:10,480 Speaker 1: even though it's a bunch of crap, and unfortunately you know, 2242 02:07:10,520 --> 02:07:13,280 Speaker 1: the unicorn match, if there's if there's In the past, 2243 02:07:13,360 --> 02:07:17,000 Speaker 1: it was more against anybody that was gay. Um, but 2244 02:07:17,120 --> 02:07:19,160 Speaker 1: there's not many of those in the community more because 2245 02:07:19,160 --> 02:07:24,120 Speaker 1: they kind of got run out and it just conserves 2246 02:07:24,160 --> 02:07:30,320 Speaker 1: in general really hostile deite. Yeah, but now it's you know, 2247 02:07:30,880 --> 02:07:33,920 Speaker 1: totally on the trans um, and again it kind of 2248 02:07:34,160 --> 02:07:37,360 Speaker 1: fights back against the conservative upbringing that I had, which was, 2249 02:07:37,920 --> 02:07:40,080 Speaker 1: as long as you're not interfering with me, then there's 2250 02:07:40,160 --> 02:07:44,640 Speaker 1: really no conflict. We've talked about queer extermination as rhetoric before, 2251 02:07:45,120 --> 02:07:47,400 Speaker 1: and it's very evident to that what we are seeing 2252 02:07:47,480 --> 02:07:51,200 Speaker 1: here is a version of that. Fortunately, George doesn't seem 2253 02:07:51,240 --> 02:07:53,640 Speaker 1: to have stuck the landing, but it doesn't mean that 2254 02:07:53,840 --> 02:07:57,080 Speaker 1: this stuff isn't dangerous. It goes without saying that the 2255 02:07:57,240 --> 02:08:02,520 Speaker 1: Unicorns weren't trying to try anyone's gender from their ranch. 2256 02:08:03,040 --> 02:08:04,920 Speaker 1: They were just trying to be left alone. It's not 2257 02:08:05,320 --> 02:08:09,160 Speaker 1: their actions that people disagreed with, it's their mere existence. 2258 02:08:09,840 --> 02:08:13,600 Speaker 1: And sadly, while the attack on the ranch might have failed, 2259 02:08:14,160 --> 02:08:18,120 Speaker 1: other attacks on queer folks haven't, and that makes havens 2260 02:08:18,160 --> 02:08:22,879 Speaker 1: like the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch even more important. Today. Next episode, 2261 02:08:22,920 --> 02:08:24,520 Speaker 1: we want to talk about what brought people to the 2262 02:08:24,640 --> 02:08:28,080 Speaker 1: ranch and how to make a queer home in rural America. 2263 02:08:47,040 --> 02:08:50,000 Speaker 1: The ranch in July two is a very different place 2264 02:08:50,040 --> 02:08:53,440 Speaker 1: to the one I've visited in March of one. For 2265 02:08:53,560 --> 02:08:55,920 Speaker 1: one thing, it's not so called that my water bottle 2266 02:08:55,960 --> 02:08:59,400 Speaker 1: freezes every night but more notably, there's less tension in 2267 02:08:59,480 --> 02:09:03,080 Speaker 1: the air, and no one's wearing a plate carrier. Not 2268 02:09:03,320 --> 02:09:06,280 Speaker 1: everyone who was there for the seed stayed. Some of 2269 02:09:06,320 --> 02:09:08,920 Speaker 1: them had only been visiting or they found other places 2270 02:09:08,920 --> 02:09:12,520 Speaker 1: to live since then, but Penny, cat Jen and Jay 2271 02:09:12,760 --> 02:09:17,600 Speaker 1: have been constant on the ranch since something I've drugged 2272 02:09:17,600 --> 02:09:19,200 Speaker 1: away so far, it's giving a sense of just what 2273 02:09:19,320 --> 02:09:23,840 Speaker 1: a welcoming and friendly place to tenaceous unicorn ranches. It's 2274 02:09:23,840 --> 02:09:25,840 Speaker 1: a thing I haven't really stopped thinking about since I 2275 02:09:25,920 --> 02:09:28,200 Speaker 1: first visited, and I think that a lot of folks 2276 02:09:28,240 --> 02:09:31,720 Speaker 1: have been looking for for a very long time, even 2277 02:09:31,760 --> 02:09:34,040 Speaker 1: in the worst time to the siege, when Penny and 2278 02:09:34,160 --> 02:09:36,920 Speaker 1: Jay barely slept when I was out running off ched 2279 02:09:37,040 --> 02:09:39,520 Speaker 1: with guns, or when Paul and I were sat up 2280 02:09:39,520 --> 02:09:42,720 Speaker 1: all night absolutely destroying the costcoatnag milunge that Penny had 2281 02:09:42,760 --> 02:09:47,320 Speaker 1: prepared for us. People always seem to be laughing. When 2282 02:09:47,400 --> 02:09:50,000 Speaker 1: we sat down to talk about the siege, we started 2283 02:09:50,040 --> 02:09:52,640 Speaker 1: off by laughing. It's a difficult topic and it was 2284 02:09:52,680 --> 02:09:55,120 Speaker 1: a scary time, but I guess it's easier to laugh 2285 02:09:55,160 --> 02:09:58,000 Speaker 1: about it a year later, when you know everyone's okay, Well, 2286 02:09:58,120 --> 02:10:00,480 Speaker 1: let's go over everyone's legal names, date of births, such 2287 02:10:00,480 --> 02:10:05,600 Speaker 1: a security number, maybe you're four digit, what art or 2288 02:10:06,360 --> 02:10:16,440 Speaker 1: list of fears, that sort of thing. Lots they don't have. 2289 02:10:17,880 --> 02:10:19,960 Speaker 1: We don't want this to be just a story about 2290 02:10:19,960 --> 02:10:22,560 Speaker 1: the worst week the ranch ever had. We wanted to 2291 02:10:22,600 --> 02:10:25,200 Speaker 1: be a story about a community that overcame adversity and 2292 02:10:25,480 --> 02:10:29,520 Speaker 1: is thriving. That community extends way beyond the dome which 2293 02:10:29,680 --> 02:10:32,560 Speaker 1: unicorns called home, and even beyond the valley that they 2294 02:10:32,640 --> 02:10:37,080 Speaker 1: live in. But we should start with that valley, because 2295 02:10:37,160 --> 02:10:39,040 Speaker 1: even at the peak of the siege, it seems like 2296 02:10:39,200 --> 02:10:42,160 Speaker 1: most people were on the unicorn side, or at least 2297 02:10:42,680 --> 02:10:46,600 Speaker 1: they just wanted to leave them alone. It was because 2298 02:10:46,600 --> 02:10:48,800 Speaker 1: of warnings from other people in the valley they need 2299 02:10:48,920 --> 02:10:52,320 Speaker 1: to patrol their perimeter at night. Had they not been there, 2300 02:10:52,760 --> 02:10:56,800 Speaker 1: this might be a very different story a year later, 2301 02:10:57,360 --> 02:11:00,880 Speaker 1: everyone in the valley values the unicorns being there. During 2302 02:11:00,920 --> 02:11:03,640 Speaker 1: the few days we spent there this summer, we visit 2303 02:11:03,680 --> 02:11:07,000 Speaker 1: neighbors for drinks. We went into town for donuts and coffee, 2304 02:11:07,280 --> 02:11:10,240 Speaker 1: and dropped in on Jordan's The Tribune, Polisha hits Ranch. 2305 02:11:10,960 --> 02:11:13,280 Speaker 1: It's none of the unicorns of pariahs sitting up in 2306 02:11:13,320 --> 02:11:15,880 Speaker 1: the house, surrounded by guns and afraid of what's coming next. 2307 02:11:16,560 --> 02:11:19,400 Speaker 1: The active members of the community, and they're very welcome. 2308 02:11:20,360 --> 02:11:22,480 Speaker 1: There was a time when this community wasn't as friendly 2309 02:11:22,520 --> 02:11:26,560 Speaker 1: to queer people, but they've always been here. I spoke 2310 02:11:26,640 --> 02:11:28,680 Speaker 1: to Penny about this last year, what we drove to 2311 02:11:28,760 --> 02:11:32,720 Speaker 1: recycling center in the next county to recycle Westliff cats. Yeah, 2312 02:11:33,080 --> 02:11:35,160 Speaker 1: like we're doing the same thing y'all are doing. Like 2313 02:11:35,320 --> 02:11:38,280 Speaker 1: you not pick up on that, like not to mention 2314 02:11:38,360 --> 02:11:42,720 Speaker 1: also that like there are queers here. We first wave 2315 02:11:43,000 --> 02:11:46,520 Speaker 1: like yeah, it's like we're not breaking any fucking mold, 2316 02:11:46,760 --> 02:11:49,360 Speaker 1: like you know what I mean, Like it's we're definitely loud. 2317 02:11:49,600 --> 02:11:53,560 Speaker 1: We're not like we didn't like get cowed down and 2318 02:11:53,760 --> 02:11:56,560 Speaker 1: fucking like bent over and like told to shut up 2319 02:11:56,600 --> 02:11:59,120 Speaker 1: our whole life. So we're definitely like fuck you were queer, 2320 02:12:00,080 --> 02:12:04,960 Speaker 1: uh And they don't like that, like like yeah, that 2321 02:12:05,080 --> 02:12:08,400 Speaker 1: makes good old boys uncomfortable and I get it. Also 2322 02:12:08,800 --> 02:12:11,720 Speaker 1: fuck you, Like yeah, I know we're gonna be who 2323 02:12:11,800 --> 02:12:13,800 Speaker 1: we are, living the way we want to. Like if 2324 02:12:13,840 --> 02:12:17,000 Speaker 1: you can hang to Trump flags and a Confederate flag 2325 02:12:17,080 --> 02:12:20,000 Speaker 1: from the back of your truck and drive down Main 2326 02:12:20,120 --> 02:12:25,680 Speaker 1: Street screaming fucking horrible, hateful things, and feel perfectly justified 2327 02:12:25,720 --> 02:12:29,360 Speaker 1: in doing that. I'm gonna just be queer, Like, I'm 2328 02:12:29,400 --> 02:12:31,120 Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and be as loud as I want 2329 02:12:31,160 --> 02:12:33,560 Speaker 1: to be. Like, obviously you think it's okay to have 2330 02:12:33,680 --> 02:12:38,480 Speaker 1: personal expression. Yeah, like right there, right, you really really 2331 02:12:38,600 --> 02:12:41,920 Speaker 1: think it's okay. So I'm gonna go ahead and take 2332 02:12:41,960 --> 02:12:46,640 Speaker 1: you up on that. They had to, like I keep 2333 02:12:46,680 --> 02:12:49,520 Speaker 1: it was some kind of like donasco tell yeah, well 2334 02:12:49,560 --> 02:12:51,560 Speaker 1: that's what they keep saying, does right. It's like, well, 2335 02:12:51,640 --> 02:12:53,200 Speaker 1: you don't have to be in our face about it. 2336 02:12:54,000 --> 02:12:57,080 Speaker 1: I'm just living like I'm not like you know, I'm 2337 02:12:57,120 --> 02:12:59,600 Speaker 1: not coming into your home and humping your couch like 2338 02:13:00,200 --> 02:13:03,840 Speaker 1: I'm just like. It can be easy, especially if you 2339 02:13:04,040 --> 02:13:06,480 Speaker 1: only connect with the royal places through the media, to 2340 02:13:06,560 --> 02:13:09,960 Speaker 1: see cities as queer spaces and the countryside is unfriendly 2341 02:13:10,040 --> 02:13:13,080 Speaker 1: to quit people. Well, politics and roll America can be 2342 02:13:13,160 --> 02:13:16,480 Speaker 1: pretty bad. It's never really been true that quit people 2343 02:13:16,520 --> 02:13:20,440 Speaker 1: don't belong there. The Unicorns pointed this out historically if 2344 02:13:20,480 --> 02:13:24,040 Speaker 1: you know anything about history, like country spaces are queer 2345 02:13:24,120 --> 02:13:27,240 Speaker 1: fucking spaces, Like we're the ones out here doing the 2346 02:13:27,320 --> 02:13:31,520 Speaker 1: actual work while fucking old fucking sis white men just 2347 02:13:31,720 --> 02:13:34,760 Speaker 1: collecting money from doing shitty ranching that damages the animals, 2348 02:13:34,840 --> 02:13:38,000 Speaker 1: damages the earth, and fucking does not build community or 2349 02:13:38,040 --> 02:13:41,920 Speaker 1: help anybody but themselves. For your integration into country spaces 2350 02:13:42,040 --> 02:13:45,200 Speaker 1: is so fucking important because we bring heart and empathy 2351 02:13:45,320 --> 02:13:49,240 Speaker 1: and all these things. Uh that that capitalism has stripped 2352 02:13:49,280 --> 02:13:53,840 Speaker 1: out of these areas. Um, we bring that back, and 2353 02:13:53,880 --> 02:13:57,280 Speaker 1: we've always fucking been here. Like fun off, real cowboys 2354 02:13:57,360 --> 02:14:03,280 Speaker 1: were constantly fucking constantly, They fucked a lot each other, 2355 02:14:03,400 --> 02:14:06,600 Speaker 1: and they were mostly like black and brown people. Yeah, yeah, 2356 02:14:06,680 --> 02:14:09,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't white. The West was not white. And by 2357 02:14:09,920 --> 02:14:12,520 Speaker 1: the way, like we have said this before and we'll 2358 02:14:12,520 --> 02:14:15,520 Speaker 1: say it again, nature is inherently queer. And we fucking 2359 02:14:15,600 --> 02:14:20,000 Speaker 1: belong here, like we fucking belong wherever the funk we go, 2360 02:14:20,360 --> 02:14:23,280 Speaker 1: Like that is a queer space. There is no like 2361 02:14:23,640 --> 02:14:28,280 Speaker 1: hard line that country spaces are for sis people. Fuck that, Like, 2362 02:14:28,440 --> 02:14:30,760 Speaker 1: we belong here. We've always been here, and we're really 2363 02:14:30,800 --> 02:14:34,320 Speaker 1: good at it. After the siege and its coverage, everyone 2364 02:14:34,440 --> 02:14:37,440 Speaker 1: knows that the Unicorn Tolte quer icons, but they are 2365 02:14:37,480 --> 02:14:40,280 Speaker 1: only parts artical queer community and they have other folks 2366 02:14:40,320 --> 02:14:43,560 Speaker 1: over for Game ninth once a week. They told us 2367 02:14:43,640 --> 02:14:46,480 Speaker 1: one story about Pride Month in Westcliffe this year, and 2368 02:14:46,560 --> 02:14:49,000 Speaker 1: thankfully it didn't involve the a t F. There was 2369 02:14:49,040 --> 02:14:52,840 Speaker 1: a really adorable during Pride Month, we went to Family Dollar, 2370 02:14:53,400 --> 02:14:55,280 Speaker 1: which is like one of the few stores in town, 2371 02:14:55,880 --> 02:14:58,880 Speaker 1: and I guess we were talking to the manager who 2372 02:14:58,960 --> 02:15:02,640 Speaker 1: was checking us out and uh and he mentioned like, oh, yeah, 2373 02:15:02,720 --> 02:15:04,800 Speaker 1: like I have, like I have a gay and a 2374 02:15:04,880 --> 02:15:07,080 Speaker 1: trans working here, Like you know, I love y'all, you know, 2375 02:15:07,320 --> 02:15:09,640 Speaker 1: And it was it was very it was a little 2376 02:15:09,840 --> 02:15:12,160 Speaker 1: a little embarrassing, but but the heart was there. It 2377 02:15:12,240 --> 02:15:18,320 Speaker 1: was very like But but the point is, like, like 2378 02:15:18,480 --> 02:15:22,400 Speaker 1: even Family Dollar, in the middle of nowhere Westcliff has 2379 02:15:22,520 --> 02:15:27,680 Speaker 1: two queer employees, Like, you know, we're everywhere. Queer people 2380 02:15:27,920 --> 02:15:31,080 Speaker 1: had always been in the valley, but it had become 2381 02:15:31,160 --> 02:15:33,960 Speaker 1: harder to share who they were with their neighbors in 2382 02:15:34,200 --> 02:15:40,280 Speaker 1: recent decades. They never stopped existing, but they stopped being safe. Yeah, 2383 02:15:40,480 --> 02:15:42,440 Speaker 1: we're connecting with a lot of queer people that have 2384 02:15:42,520 --> 02:15:45,680 Speaker 1: lived here for a long time. Yeah. It's the fact 2385 02:15:45,800 --> 02:15:49,440 Speaker 1: that a community is so hostile that their queer community 2386 02:15:49,520 --> 02:15:52,640 Speaker 1: has to be closeted does not mean that the queer 2387 02:15:52,720 --> 02:15:55,080 Speaker 1: community isn't here. It just means that a lot of 2388 02:15:55,160 --> 02:15:59,160 Speaker 1: assholes are here. Don't ask, don't tell, an institutional version 2389 02:15:59,200 --> 02:16:02,800 Speaker 1: of closeting, is something that Penny is very familiar with. 2390 02:16:03,720 --> 02:16:05,880 Speaker 1: She was in the Army as a Calvary scout while 2391 02:16:05,920 --> 02:16:08,760 Speaker 1: the policy was still in place. If you're not familiar, 2392 02:16:08,840 --> 02:16:11,120 Speaker 1: Don't Ask, Don't tell was a military policy that was 2393 02:16:11,160 --> 02:16:14,800 Speaker 1: in place nineteen ninety four until two thousand eleven. Under 2394 02:16:14,840 --> 02:16:17,640 Speaker 1: the policy, anyone who wasn't straight was to remain in 2395 02:16:17,760 --> 02:16:21,400 Speaker 1: the closet, and in theory they were protected from discrimination, 2396 02:16:22,040 --> 02:16:24,960 Speaker 1: but if they came out as gay or buy or 2397 02:16:25,040 --> 02:16:29,360 Speaker 1: trans or otherwise queer, they could be discharged. Queer people 2398 02:16:29,400 --> 02:16:32,080 Speaker 1: were not even allowed to talk about anything related to 2399 02:16:32,240 --> 02:16:36,840 Speaker 1: their queerness because doing so, quote would create an unacceptable 2400 02:16:36,959 --> 02:16:40,040 Speaker 1: risk to the high standards of morale, good order, and 2401 02:16:40,120 --> 02:16:44,760 Speaker 1: discipline and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability. 2402 02:16:45,160 --> 02:16:49,760 Speaker 1: Don't ask, don't tell. Like, I remember a girlfriend when 2403 02:16:49,760 --> 02:16:53,440 Speaker 1: I was in the military, UM, and I definitely was like, 2404 02:16:54,160 --> 02:16:58,600 Speaker 1: this is my best friend of Germany and it sometimes 2405 02:16:58,640 --> 02:17:02,520 Speaker 1: spends the night because we're best friend knows, I don't know. 2406 02:17:02,680 --> 02:17:05,480 Speaker 1: It was really really damaging. It was just really really 2407 02:17:05,600 --> 02:17:10,520 Speaker 1: damaging to like not being able to be yourself. Um. 2408 02:17:11,040 --> 02:17:13,880 Speaker 1: But then also like be able to leave posts and 2409 02:17:14,000 --> 02:17:16,440 Speaker 1: have a secret life where you were yourself, you know, 2410 02:17:16,680 --> 02:17:19,280 Speaker 1: like and then when you go out with the guys, 2411 02:17:19,440 --> 02:17:21,520 Speaker 1: like there's always those weird moments where you like do 2412 02:17:21,760 --> 02:17:26,840 Speaker 1: run into other gay locals that you have like known 2413 02:17:27,080 --> 02:17:31,440 Speaker 1: and like you've had deep conversations with another context and 2414 02:17:31,560 --> 02:17:34,560 Speaker 1: just have to be like, no, don't don't talk to me. 2415 02:17:34,720 --> 02:17:37,800 Speaker 1: Everyonet know each other, um, which is I'm sure damaging 2416 02:17:37,959 --> 02:17:41,400 Speaker 1: for them, you know, like that can't be fucking normal, Like, 2417 02:17:42,400 --> 02:17:45,360 Speaker 1: I don't know, that's weird. And then on the throw 2418 02:17:45,440 --> 02:17:48,040 Speaker 1: on top of that that you're also a girl, like 2419 02:17:48,320 --> 02:17:49,800 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, so you're pretending to 2420 02:17:50,000 --> 02:17:58,160 Speaker 1: be a gay man who's straight sometimes around certain people, um, 2421 02:17:58,520 --> 02:18:05,640 Speaker 1: but really you're gay. You're a bisexual woman um pre 2422 02:18:05,959 --> 02:18:11,280 Speaker 1: surgery and with the wrong um hormones. And so it 2423 02:18:11,440 --> 02:18:16,640 Speaker 1: just ends up being a soup of just like compartmentalization 2424 02:18:16,680 --> 02:18:19,280 Speaker 1: to the point where you just like forget people and 2425 02:18:19,360 --> 02:18:21,360 Speaker 1: then they show back up and you're like, oh, yeah, 2426 02:18:21,480 --> 02:18:24,760 Speaker 1: like you're from this quadrant of my life. Like I 2427 02:18:24,800 --> 02:18:28,080 Speaker 1: don't know, it's not healthy. Yeah, it doesn't do good things. 2428 02:18:29,000 --> 02:18:32,160 Speaker 1: Don't ask, don't tell. Had pretty devastating consequences for the 2429 02:18:32,200 --> 02:18:36,359 Speaker 1: mental health of thousands of service people. The National Transgender 2430 02:18:36,440 --> 02:18:39,960 Speaker 1: Discrimination Survey found that of trans people have served in 2431 02:18:40,000 --> 02:18:43,240 Speaker 1: the military over twice the rate of cis gender people, 2432 02:18:44,080 --> 02:18:47,240 Speaker 1: but until very recently, they weren't even allowed to do 2433 02:18:47,400 --> 02:18:50,520 Speaker 1: so openly. Not being able to be yourself with people 2434 02:18:50,560 --> 02:18:54,120 Speaker 1: that you're expected to risk your life for isn't really 2435 02:18:54,480 --> 02:18:58,880 Speaker 1: conductive to good morale or indeed quote the unit cohesion 2436 02:18:59,000 --> 02:19:03,560 Speaker 1: that is the essence of military capability. There's no doubt 2437 02:19:03,720 --> 02:19:08,240 Speaker 1: that being familiar with guns, something they gained from military experience, 2438 02:19:08,920 --> 02:19:11,960 Speaker 1: did help the unicorns, but it's not the only thing 2439 02:19:12,120 --> 02:19:15,600 Speaker 1: that helped them. Sometimes, especially on Twitter, where things seem 2440 02:19:15,640 --> 02:19:17,920 Speaker 1: to get reduced to simple terms to fit into the 2441 02:19:18,000 --> 02:19:21,480 Speaker 1: discourse of the day, the Tenaceous Unicorn Ranch story has 2442 02:19:21,520 --> 02:19:26,120 Speaker 1: been reduced to a story about guns. Undoubtedly, guns are 2443 02:19:26,200 --> 02:19:28,920 Speaker 1: a part of the story, but they would have been 2444 02:19:29,040 --> 02:19:33,000 Speaker 1: useless without community and solidarity. That is something that the 2445 02:19:33,120 --> 02:19:36,760 Speaker 1: unicorns at the ranch have taken to heart. A year later, 2446 02:19:36,959 --> 02:19:39,520 Speaker 1: they're doing mutual aid work with the Lakota people on 2447 02:19:39,640 --> 02:19:43,680 Speaker 1: the Pine Ridge Reservation, driving truckloads of donations to them 2448 02:19:43,760 --> 02:19:47,720 Speaker 1: every few months and using their Internet presence to get donations. 2449 02:19:48,440 --> 02:19:50,240 Speaker 1: If we want to look at this story as an 2450 02:19:50,280 --> 02:19:53,680 Speaker 1: example of anarchism in action, and it's important to remember 2451 02:19:53,879 --> 02:19:56,000 Speaker 1: that if we want a world where the state is 2452 02:19:56,080 --> 02:19:59,359 Speaker 1: not the only entity with the ability to do violence, 2453 02:19:59,680 --> 02:20:01,520 Speaker 1: then should also want a world where it's not the 2454 02:20:01,600 --> 02:20:06,039 Speaker 1: only entity responsible for caring for people with unmet material needs. 2455 02:20:07,160 --> 02:20:10,560 Speaker 1: Alongside ranch work, Penny and j also make ends meet 2456 02:20:10,800 --> 02:20:15,240 Speaker 1: by working construction jobs on local buildings. Something that George 2457 02:20:15,400 --> 02:20:18,400 Speaker 1: from the Sentinel is very proud of and that other 2458 02:20:18,600 --> 02:20:22,000 Speaker 1: local residents are beginning to regret, is that Custer County 2459 02:20:22,200 --> 02:20:25,480 Speaker 1: doesn't have a building code. Here's the snippet of his 2460 02:20:25,640 --> 02:20:30,320 Speaker 1: conversation with t L about that. Then one example, t 2461 02:20:30,600 --> 02:20:34,200 Speaker 1: L is, who county is so free? We don't even 2462 02:20:34,240 --> 02:20:37,840 Speaker 1: have building codes. If you're going to live here, you 2463 02:20:37,920 --> 02:20:40,520 Speaker 1: can build yourself a shock with tway to live in it. 2464 02:20:41,440 --> 02:20:43,840 Speaker 1: You know. That's uh, that's the way it is here 2465 02:20:44,400 --> 02:20:50,400 Speaker 1: in my little Bergen, Texas too. Do you really need him? 2466 02:20:50,560 --> 02:20:54,000 Speaker 1: Do you really need I mean, that's something I think 2467 02:20:54,040 --> 02:20:59,360 Speaker 1: should be attacked in other ways. But go ahead, but 2468 02:21:00,000 --> 02:21:03,000 Speaker 1: to one of the things that make Custer County and 2469 02:21:03,160 --> 02:21:06,040 Speaker 1: one of the reasons I moved to this one. Yeah, yeah, 2470 02:21:06,080 --> 02:21:13,480 Speaker 1: I mean that basically cause housing crisis, who become unreachable 2471 02:21:13,520 --> 02:21:17,240 Speaker 1: for the middle class. The problem with this conservative utopian 2472 02:21:17,360 --> 02:21:19,880 Speaker 1: vision is that it has resulted in a lot of 2473 02:21:19,920 --> 02:21:24,160 Speaker 1: residents getting ripped off by less than upstanding builders and 2474 02:21:24,440 --> 02:21:28,520 Speaker 1: now left with their homes falling apart. That's where Penny 2475 02:21:28,560 --> 02:21:31,119 Speaker 1: and Jake can step in and make a decent side 2476 02:21:31,160 --> 02:21:35,320 Speaker 1: income drywalling and finishing buildings that well often are not 2477 02:21:35,520 --> 02:21:40,119 Speaker 1: very old, are already crumbling. Like we've always said, um, 2478 02:21:40,440 --> 02:21:46,400 Speaker 1: this community is awesome. UM and that has held true. 2479 02:21:46,520 --> 02:21:50,800 Speaker 1: We uh we do contracting work because there are no 2480 02:21:51,520 --> 02:21:55,960 Speaker 1: UM building codes in Custer County, as opposed to what 2481 02:21:56,200 --> 02:22:00,080 Speaker 1: like the libertarian ideal of no building codes is. It 2482 02:22:00,120 --> 02:22:02,400 Speaker 1: actually just means that there's a bunch of shoddy houses 2483 02:22:02,440 --> 02:22:06,920 Speaker 1: that need repaired constantly. UM. And we have construction skills. 2484 02:22:07,320 --> 02:22:12,400 Speaker 1: So we're in people's homes, repairing them and doing work 2485 02:22:12,520 --> 02:22:16,960 Speaker 1: for the actual people of the county daily. UM. We 2486 02:22:17,480 --> 02:22:20,080 Speaker 1: frequent businesses up here because we're all about local support. 2487 02:22:20,120 --> 02:22:25,440 Speaker 1: We build community, UM gleefully, we build community like we 2488 02:22:25,560 --> 02:22:28,200 Speaker 1: really enjoy it up here. The community now is a 2489 02:22:28,240 --> 02:22:32,160 Speaker 1: little smaller than when James first visited. Currently five people 2490 02:22:32,320 --> 02:22:35,000 Speaker 1: live at the ranch full time, but they still have 2491 02:22:35,080 --> 02:22:37,720 Speaker 1: a couple of trailers open to transfolks in need of 2492 02:22:37,800 --> 02:22:40,960 Speaker 1: a safe place to stay or you know, visiting journalists 2493 02:22:42,160 --> 02:22:44,840 Speaker 1: looking for a safe place to stay. Is how Jay 2494 02:22:45,120 --> 02:22:48,080 Speaker 1: first came to the ranch. Like a lot of us, 2495 02:22:48,240 --> 02:22:50,840 Speaker 1: she had a difficult time at the start of the pandemic. 2496 02:22:51,280 --> 02:22:53,680 Speaker 1: The world was changing and it seemed in May of 2497 02:22:54,560 --> 02:22:57,640 Speaker 1: that America was as well. For a lot of people 2498 02:22:57,840 --> 02:23:02,680 Speaker 1: with less progressive parents, the BLM uprising presented a difficult 2499 02:23:02,760 --> 02:23:06,560 Speaker 1: choice between family and community. Jay was one of those 2500 02:23:06,600 --> 02:23:12,360 Speaker 1: people that had to face that choice. So basically, um, 2501 02:23:13,240 --> 02:23:17,880 Speaker 1: I was living in Dallas, work in retail when living 2502 02:23:17,920 --> 02:23:25,760 Speaker 1: in my car when the um pandemic started, and so 2503 02:23:25,959 --> 02:23:30,560 Speaker 1: I was furloughed. Luckily, Texas is actually surprisingly good about unemployment, 2504 02:23:31,280 --> 02:23:35,480 Speaker 1: so I you know, had that. Um it was my 2505 02:23:35,640 --> 02:23:40,800 Speaker 1: parents are retired from the military around there, and when 2506 02:23:40,959 --> 02:23:45,520 Speaker 1: the BLM uprisings happened, Uh, I participant, you know, did 2507 02:23:45,600 --> 02:23:51,720 Speaker 1: some things, and basically my parents were like, you either 2508 02:23:52,760 --> 02:23:56,080 Speaker 1: can stay here or and not be associated with Antifa, 2509 02:23:57,000 --> 02:23:59,680 Speaker 1: or you know, you you can't stay here if you're 2510 02:23:59,680 --> 02:24:02,800 Speaker 1: as social shaded with Antifa and so I was like, okay, 2511 02:24:03,000 --> 02:24:07,039 Speaker 1: I'm I guess I'm leaving then, which is fine. Um, 2512 02:24:07,400 --> 02:24:12,040 Speaker 1: there was a lot of tension there anyways. Uh it 2513 02:24:12,160 --> 02:24:17,680 Speaker 1: wasn't good for me, so um I because of the unemployment. 2514 02:24:17,720 --> 02:24:19,600 Speaker 1: I was like, okay, I you know, for once, have 2515 02:24:20,600 --> 02:24:23,119 Speaker 1: some resources. I can just kind of you know, I'm 2516 02:24:23,120 --> 02:24:25,680 Speaker 1: already living in my car. I can just kind of 2517 02:24:25,720 --> 02:24:29,960 Speaker 1: travel around for a bit. Why not? And I think 2518 02:24:30,000 --> 02:24:33,120 Speaker 1: I just posted on Twitter like trans commune whin you know, 2519 02:24:33,240 --> 02:24:37,920 Speaker 1: as as probably most queer people have, and one of 2520 02:24:38,000 --> 02:24:41,640 Speaker 1: my permaculture mutuals actually it was like, hey have you 2521 02:24:41,720 --> 02:24:43,720 Speaker 1: heard of this place? It's not far from you and 2522 02:24:44,360 --> 02:24:47,520 Speaker 1: posted a link to I think it was the Vice article. Yeah, 2523 02:24:48,280 --> 02:24:52,520 Speaker 1: And I sent a message and with a bunch of 2524 02:24:52,640 --> 02:24:55,120 Speaker 1: questions about it and making sure it wasn't you know, 2525 02:24:55,360 --> 02:24:58,480 Speaker 1: like trans medicalists or anything like that, which is always 2526 02:24:58,520 --> 02:25:00,959 Speaker 1: like what you want to see when somebody contacts the ranch, 2527 02:25:01,040 --> 02:25:04,520 Speaker 1: think about coming up, I wait, prefer an in depth 2528 02:25:04,560 --> 02:25:07,040 Speaker 1: breakdown and a lot of questions to I'll just show 2529 02:25:07,120 --> 02:25:10,440 Speaker 1: up and figure it out. In case you're not familiar 2530 02:25:10,520 --> 02:25:13,720 Speaker 1: with what a trans medicalist is, will let Paul ask 2531 02:25:13,840 --> 02:25:16,800 Speaker 1: that question for you. And we're gonna play this not 2532 02:25:16,920 --> 02:25:19,880 Speaker 1: to make Paul look bad. We're playing it for you 2533 02:25:20,080 --> 02:25:22,760 Speaker 1: because I think it's important to see what kind of 2534 02:25:22,920 --> 02:25:26,440 Speaker 1: space the ranch is. It's not one where you can't 2535 02:25:26,480 --> 02:25:29,039 Speaker 1: get things wrong. It's one where you can ask if 2536 02:25:29,080 --> 02:25:32,400 Speaker 1: you don't know something. And because everyone there had shown 2537 02:25:32,440 --> 02:25:34,960 Speaker 1: that they're willing to risk life and limb for one another, 2538 02:25:35,640 --> 02:25:38,199 Speaker 1: they assume that you're asking it because you care about 2539 02:25:38,240 --> 02:25:40,240 Speaker 1: them and you want to know how to say things 2540 02:25:40,320 --> 02:25:42,840 Speaker 1: in a way that won't hurt anyone. What the fund is? 2541 02:25:42,879 --> 02:25:49,040 Speaker 1: A trans medicalist someone who think that primarily well, so 2542 02:25:49,200 --> 02:25:51,720 Speaker 1: this does not describe any of us, but a trans 2543 02:25:51,800 --> 02:25:55,320 Speaker 1: medical list is someone who, uh, first and foremost thinks 2544 02:25:55,360 --> 02:25:57,879 Speaker 1: that all trans people should be on hormones, all trans 2545 02:25:57,959 --> 02:26:00,920 Speaker 1: people should have surgery, all trans people drive towards or 2546 02:26:02,280 --> 02:26:04,800 Speaker 1: and they don't believe in yeah, and they don't believe 2547 02:26:04,840 --> 02:26:07,240 Speaker 1: in anything but the gender binary as well, Like basically, 2548 02:26:07,480 --> 02:26:11,960 Speaker 1: if you don't want to transition directly from like a 2549 02:26:12,120 --> 02:26:15,920 Speaker 1: male to a female or direct whatever to a male, like, 2550 02:26:16,120 --> 02:26:21,760 Speaker 1: you're not not transon did they think they think those 2551 02:26:21,800 --> 02:26:29,280 Speaker 1: trans people are making it worse for other trans people? Like? Okay, so, 2552 02:26:29,440 --> 02:26:32,000 Speaker 1: like that was my next question to like our non binary. Yeah, 2553 02:26:32,040 --> 02:26:34,240 Speaker 1: they hate those people. They think they're faking so but 2554 02:26:34,520 --> 02:26:38,800 Speaker 1: like do they say they're not trans and different groups 2555 02:26:39,600 --> 02:26:42,760 Speaker 1: they often call them trans trenders because it's like a 2556 02:26:42,840 --> 02:26:47,400 Speaker 1: popularity contest. They think, so, yeah, okay, and those people suck. 2557 02:26:47,920 --> 02:26:50,760 Speaker 1: Jay has found a home at the Ranch now, and 2558 02:26:51,000 --> 02:26:53,160 Speaker 1: just like everyone else there, she's a part of the 2559 02:26:53,200 --> 02:26:55,960 Speaker 1: family which takes care of one another. It was actually 2560 02:26:56,000 --> 02:26:58,720 Speaker 1: really funny because Jay showed up and the assumption I 2561 02:26:58,800 --> 02:27:00,520 Speaker 1: thought was that just gonna stay for a little bit 2562 02:27:00,560 --> 02:27:02,600 Speaker 1: and then you just didn't leave it. It was great. Yeah, 2563 02:27:05,000 --> 02:27:08,640 Speaker 1: it was very exactly what you know a lot of 2564 02:27:08,720 --> 02:27:11,680 Speaker 1: queer people talk about online, which is ye, well, when 2565 02:27:11,800 --> 02:27:15,000 Speaker 1: Jay brought a passion that we hadn't seen with a 2566 02:27:15,080 --> 02:27:16,920 Speaker 1: lot of people that had come up. A lot of 2567 02:27:16,959 --> 02:27:20,160 Speaker 1: people had come up with this like yeah, we'll just 2568 02:27:20,280 --> 02:27:22,760 Speaker 1: see what it is or whatever. But Jay came up 2569 02:27:22,800 --> 02:27:27,600 Speaker 1: with like knowledge about theory and like had studied and 2570 02:27:27,760 --> 02:27:31,959 Speaker 1: was really like conscientiously a part of this project um, 2571 02:27:32,120 --> 02:27:34,800 Speaker 1: which was huge. I mean for me, like part of 2572 02:27:34,920 --> 02:27:37,720 Speaker 1: what Jay has been able to help with is organizing 2573 02:27:37,879 --> 02:27:41,240 Speaker 1: the moving of animals to different pastors. James was at 2574 02:27:41,280 --> 02:27:43,720 Speaker 1: the Ranch last year when they were replacing their old 2575 02:27:43,760 --> 02:27:49,360 Speaker 1: fence and planning out their fields ready as fence. UM 2576 02:27:49,959 --> 02:27:54,160 Speaker 1: and this back fence here as we build the new 2577 02:27:54,480 --> 02:27:58,280 Speaker 1: kind of structure for the girls out in matt Field. UM, 2578 02:27:58,520 --> 02:28:02,800 Speaker 1: when we're doing the fence heightening, so it's not only 2579 02:28:04,040 --> 02:28:07,800 Speaker 1: um security increase, but we're also we'll fence off the 2580 02:28:07,959 --> 02:28:11,480 Speaker 1: driveway and then the girls watch the babies that mama 2581 02:28:11,520 --> 02:28:14,439 Speaker 1: will actually get access all the way down the driveway 2582 02:28:14,480 --> 02:28:17,280 Speaker 1: and up this hill a little bit. Hey, babies, come on, 2583 02:28:18,680 --> 02:28:22,400 Speaker 1: um and uh yeah, we'll just structure our fields a 2584 02:28:22,440 --> 02:28:25,680 Speaker 1: little bit better, and then the girls will have two pastures, 2585 02:28:26,240 --> 02:28:29,200 Speaker 1: which is kind of we can rotate them into. We 2586 02:28:29,280 --> 02:28:32,440 Speaker 1: can start actual perma culture or is it perma culture? 2587 02:28:32,480 --> 02:28:35,520 Speaker 1: I said, I mean it's regeneration in this context, it's 2588 02:28:35,560 --> 02:28:38,280 Speaker 1: like regenerative agriculture. Thank you, That's what I was like. 2589 02:28:38,400 --> 02:28:40,960 Speaker 1: You know, you can also like perma culture. People do 2590 02:28:41,080 --> 02:28:43,200 Speaker 1: it too, you know. Yeah, but but what we're doing 2591 02:28:43,320 --> 02:28:47,039 Speaker 1: is that's both. Really we'll be doing both. Okay, yeah, 2592 02:28:47,200 --> 02:28:50,200 Speaker 1: so you can use either our experts. There's definitely an 2593 02:28:50,240 --> 02:28:53,800 Speaker 1: industry like, oh, regenerative agriculture is the new thing, and 2594 02:28:54,120 --> 02:28:57,240 Speaker 1: but it's still capitalism and it's still exploitative, but there 2595 02:28:57,280 --> 02:29:02,240 Speaker 1: are also people doing real regenerative talking with j it's 2596 02:29:02,480 --> 02:29:05,560 Speaker 1: very evident just how passionate they are about these topics 2597 02:29:06,040 --> 02:29:10,560 Speaker 1: and how things like biodiversity and regenerative and permaculture processes 2598 02:29:11,200 --> 02:29:14,120 Speaker 1: tie you into many aspects of the ranch itself. The 2599 02:29:14,400 --> 02:29:19,600 Speaker 1: you know, capitalist project is homogenization and simplification. The entire 2600 02:29:19,720 --> 02:29:22,400 Speaker 1: goal is things like mono crops. The entire goal is 2601 02:29:22,720 --> 02:29:25,680 Speaker 1: you know, you know, the gender binary and controlling the 2602 02:29:25,760 --> 02:29:31,880 Speaker 1: reproduction of labor, controlling sis, women and queer gender expression 2603 02:29:32,120 --> 02:29:33,960 Speaker 1: is a big part of that. Like you can't have 2604 02:29:34,200 --> 02:29:40,120 Speaker 1: those things and have a capitalist, white supremacist environment where 2605 02:29:41,480 --> 02:29:44,840 Speaker 1: you can extract from the earth and from labor. That 2606 02:29:45,040 --> 02:29:48,680 Speaker 1: is such a key component of this whole, like you know, 2607 02:29:49,400 --> 02:29:52,200 Speaker 1: m Western project or whatever you want to call it. 2608 02:29:52,680 --> 02:29:55,360 Speaker 1: And nature doesn't care. Nature is queer nature, like nature 2609 02:29:55,360 --> 02:30:00,720 Speaker 1: is just exists. Fungi have thousands of sex as engenders 2610 02:30:01,520 --> 02:30:06,200 Speaker 1: and that's fine, in fact, that's in fact, like the 2611 02:30:06,520 --> 02:30:09,320 Speaker 1: part of the point of nature is biodiversity because that 2612 02:30:09,480 --> 02:30:14,400 Speaker 1: is the most effective method for actually iterating and testing 2613 02:30:14,640 --> 02:30:18,720 Speaker 1: what works and sing and surviving and and we're biomodal 2614 02:30:18,800 --> 02:30:21,560 Speaker 1: by the way not binary like, and you know, if 2615 02:30:21,600 --> 02:30:23,119 Speaker 1: you need to look that up, you can go ahead 2616 02:30:23,120 --> 02:30:28,400 Speaker 1: and do that. And in Perman culture in particular, you 2617 02:30:28,480 --> 02:30:31,360 Speaker 1: know some one big problem with Perman culture is there's 2618 02:30:31,360 --> 02:30:35,680 Speaker 1: a lot of white people who uh use the practices 2619 02:30:35,959 --> 02:30:39,680 Speaker 1: and don't acknowledge that it all comes from indigenous cultures. 2620 02:30:39,760 --> 02:30:43,640 Speaker 1: It all comes from indigenous life ways, and they make 2621 02:30:43,680 --> 02:30:47,160 Speaker 1: a lot of money by not saying that not. You know, 2622 02:30:47,720 --> 02:30:51,240 Speaker 1: so that's important to address. Uh. Perma culture has its 2623 02:30:51,680 --> 02:30:56,879 Speaker 1: you know, value. But if you're not learning from indigenous 2624 02:30:56,879 --> 02:30:59,320 Speaker 1: people and giving back to Indigenous people, you're doing wrong. 2625 02:31:01,040 --> 02:31:04,720 Speaker 1: Just because the immediate threat of armed men breaking into 2626 02:31:04,760 --> 02:31:08,840 Speaker 1: the ranch has gone away doesn't mean that they still 2627 02:31:08,920 --> 02:31:13,160 Speaker 1: don't have to be careful. In April one, after the 2628 02:31:13,400 --> 02:31:18,120 Speaker 1: siege was over, the then sheriff Shannon Byerley claimed that 2629 02:31:18,440 --> 02:31:20,440 Speaker 1: one of his deputies went to the ranch to ask 2630 02:31:20,600 --> 02:31:23,800 Speaker 1: questions about a road traffic accident that one of the 2631 02:31:23,920 --> 02:31:27,160 Speaker 1: ranchers had been involved in. He claimed the deputy was 2632 02:31:27,280 --> 02:31:31,560 Speaker 1: met by armed and uncooperative ranchers who barred the deputy 2633 02:31:31,640 --> 02:31:36,040 Speaker 1: from entering. Bodycam video obtained by Reuter's thanks to a 2634 02:31:36,120 --> 02:31:40,280 Speaker 1: Public Records Act request, shows nothing of the sorts, the 2635 02:31:40,360 --> 02:31:43,320 Speaker 1: deputy met a single person, not visibly armed, who was 2636 02:31:43,520 --> 02:31:48,200 Speaker 1: polite and courteous. In subsequent interviews, Bierley acknowledged that he 2637 02:31:48,280 --> 02:31:51,120 Speaker 1: had been mistaken in his account, but we'll let you 2638 02:31:51,240 --> 02:31:54,560 Speaker 1: hear Jay's account of the events that day. So, my 2639 02:31:54,840 --> 02:31:58,240 Speaker 1: Chevy Blazer had been sitting over the winner. Um, it 2640 02:31:58,400 --> 02:32:01,119 Speaker 1: had a bad alternator, and I've finally like we finally 2641 02:32:01,200 --> 02:32:05,960 Speaker 1: got you know, the money together, fixed to replace the alternator. UM, 2642 02:32:06,400 --> 02:32:11,000 Speaker 1: looked it over. Everything seemed fine. Um, And I was 2643 02:32:11,120 --> 02:32:15,959 Speaker 1: going back to Texas to grab some stuff and bring 2644 02:32:16,080 --> 02:32:23,160 Speaker 1: it back. Um. And I went around apparently Black Ice Corner, 2645 02:32:23,360 --> 02:32:26,720 Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure what happened was my tire popped 2646 02:32:26,720 --> 02:32:30,120 Speaker 1: around Like I was only going like thirty because you know, 2647 02:32:30,720 --> 02:32:34,520 Speaker 1: black there's ice. It's still went Yeah it was. It 2648 02:32:34,640 --> 02:32:36,320 Speaker 1: was like four or five o'clock in the morning or 2649 02:32:36,360 --> 02:32:39,960 Speaker 1: something like that, and I'm pretty sure what happened was 2650 02:32:40,040 --> 02:32:43,040 Speaker 1: my tire popped and then my Blazer proceeded to tumble, 2651 02:32:43,959 --> 02:32:49,840 Speaker 1: uh you know, roll over, yeah, into the Luckily not 2652 02:32:49,959 --> 02:32:52,160 Speaker 1: a ditch or anything, just on the left of the 2653 02:32:52,280 --> 02:32:56,200 Speaker 1: south left side of the road. And so I called 2654 02:32:56,280 --> 02:33:00,360 Speaker 1: Penny and got picked up. Yeah, we take care of 2655 02:33:00,440 --> 02:33:02,080 Speaker 1: them when we're not going to call the cops. It 2656 02:33:02,200 --> 02:33:06,160 Speaker 1: was it only was you there no reason. And then 2657 02:33:06,280 --> 02:33:08,600 Speaker 1: I was like, okay, let me look at towing around 2658 02:33:08,640 --> 02:33:11,320 Speaker 1: the area. Let me see and the towing the local 2659 02:33:11,400 --> 02:33:14,879 Speaker 1: towing company which is just like a small family owned 2660 02:33:17,280 --> 02:33:22,440 Speaker 1: one guy basically. Um, they on their Facebook like business 2661 02:33:22,560 --> 02:33:25,000 Speaker 1: page they said they opened at like nine or ten 2662 02:33:25,160 --> 02:33:26,840 Speaker 1: or something like that. So I was like, okay, So 2663 02:33:26,920 --> 02:33:28,560 Speaker 1: I'm it's gonna be on the side of the road 2664 02:33:28,640 --> 02:33:31,120 Speaker 1: until then. That's fine, I'll call and I'm going to 2665 02:33:31,200 --> 02:33:32,680 Speaker 1: go to sleep until then because I was just in 2666 02:33:32,720 --> 02:33:37,039 Speaker 1: a rollover actually probably can cuss, like yeah, probably whiplashed 2667 02:33:37,080 --> 02:33:40,959 Speaker 1: at least. And then so I was in my trailer 2668 02:33:41,360 --> 02:33:45,320 Speaker 1: and I suddenly in my pj's and suddenly get a 2669 02:33:45,360 --> 02:33:48,320 Speaker 1: call from dispatch and they're like, there's a deputy at 2670 02:33:48,360 --> 02:33:51,039 Speaker 1: your gate. Uh you know, can you go blah blah blah. 2671 02:33:51,200 --> 02:33:55,760 Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, take took a vehicle downs. 2672 02:33:56,240 --> 02:33:57,960 Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't have a pistol in the car 2673 02:33:58,080 --> 02:34:03,920 Speaker 1: around me, and um, I basically just you know, as 2674 02:34:04,000 --> 02:34:08,240 Speaker 1: you do with cops, as any sane human does, answer 2675 02:34:10,120 --> 02:34:13,080 Speaker 1: to the extent that you're legally required to be polite, 2676 02:34:13,160 --> 02:34:14,960 Speaker 1: but also like I'm not going to invite you on. 2677 02:34:15,120 --> 02:34:17,800 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be your friends. You're not my friend, 2678 02:34:18,600 --> 02:34:22,680 Speaker 1: um he he he. You know, he did the usual, 2679 02:34:22,800 --> 02:34:24,880 Speaker 1: like you know, where you were you drinking, and I 2680 02:34:24,959 --> 02:34:28,720 Speaker 1: was like, it's like five o'clock in the morning. It's 2681 02:34:28,760 --> 02:34:31,560 Speaker 1: like six o'clock right now, Like I was going back. 2682 02:34:31,720 --> 02:34:33,680 Speaker 1: I was driving back to Texas to pick up stuff. 2683 02:34:33,760 --> 02:34:35,800 Speaker 1: I was starting a road trip. That's not when you 2684 02:34:35,959 --> 02:34:43,480 Speaker 1: like get blitzed, like yeah, and uh so he gave 2685 02:34:43,520 --> 02:34:46,720 Speaker 1: me his card and left, and I was like, Okay, 2686 02:34:46,800 --> 02:34:49,400 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's fine. That was weird, but and 2687 02:34:49,600 --> 02:34:52,959 Speaker 1: it was weird to me too that like they apparently 2688 02:34:53,000 --> 02:34:57,400 Speaker 1: have some kind of relationship with this toeing guy where 2689 02:34:57,879 --> 02:34:59,920 Speaker 1: because they didn't even ask me, like, hey, do you 2690 02:35:00,040 --> 02:35:04,160 Speaker 1: they just to this place? Yeah, they just towed it 2691 02:35:05,120 --> 02:35:10,520 Speaker 1: before they even contacted me. And so either you bring 2692 02:35:10,640 --> 02:35:13,360 Speaker 1: the title over to sign it over to the towing person, 2693 02:35:14,120 --> 02:35:17,280 Speaker 1: or you pay him like four or five out here 2694 02:35:17,400 --> 02:35:20,520 Speaker 1: to bring it back here. So that's what actually happened. 2695 02:35:21,040 --> 02:35:24,880 Speaker 1: But then for some reason, the local sheriff started telling 2696 02:35:25,000 --> 02:35:28,640 Speaker 1: a very different account of what took place outside the 2697 02:35:28,760 --> 02:35:34,840 Speaker 1: unicorns driveway. So that was the that was the actual incident. 2698 02:35:35,480 --> 02:35:39,720 Speaker 1: Then Byerley, the sheriff started getting interviewed, and in those 2699 02:35:39,800 --> 02:35:43,680 Speaker 1: interviews he would say they there were six of them. 2700 02:35:43,959 --> 02:35:47,160 Speaker 1: They met us at the gate, armed, were extremely hostile, 2701 02:35:47,200 --> 02:35:50,560 Speaker 1: to the point where my my sheriff felt definitely felt 2702 02:35:50,800 --> 02:35:54,120 Speaker 1: fear for his life and had to retreat back and 2703 02:35:55,080 --> 02:35:57,959 Speaker 1: fear for his life. But he also said we don't 2704 02:35:58,120 --> 02:36:01,880 Speaker 1: go there anymore. He said on record, we don't go 2705 02:36:02,000 --> 02:36:05,680 Speaker 1: there anymore because it's too scary. And so that is 2706 02:36:05,800 --> 02:36:08,480 Speaker 1: setting us up to be killed. That is setting us 2707 02:36:08,560 --> 02:36:10,840 Speaker 1: up to be marked by the place. It's like, you know, 2708 02:36:11,000 --> 02:36:15,680 Speaker 1: this is Kiwie Farm, says this all the time, this 2709 02:36:15,800 --> 02:36:19,080 Speaker 1: is trany Waco. Yeah, And that is the setup for 2710 02:36:19,240 --> 02:36:22,960 Speaker 1: it to become that. And so because then now all 2711 02:36:23,040 --> 02:36:25,000 Speaker 1: of his deputies are just ready to shoot us on 2712 02:36:25,040 --> 02:36:28,840 Speaker 1: site because we're dangerous. A reporter from Reuters was looking 2713 02:36:28,879 --> 02:36:32,160 Speaker 1: into the incident and heard the conflicting stories from the 2714 02:36:32,240 --> 02:36:35,400 Speaker 1: sheriff and the unicorns, but she thought of an easy 2715 02:36:35,480 --> 02:36:39,280 Speaker 1: fix to definitively know what happened. She just boy the 2716 02:36:39,400 --> 02:36:45,320 Speaker 1: body cam footage, which proved unequivocally that they were lying 2717 02:36:45,480 --> 02:36:48,160 Speaker 1: there fucking ass off and we were telling the truth. 2718 02:36:49,080 --> 02:36:51,400 Speaker 1: And Byerley retired this year. I don't know if well, 2719 02:36:51,480 --> 02:36:55,240 Speaker 1: and she when she oh, yet it she went back, 2720 02:36:55,920 --> 02:36:58,160 Speaker 1: oh god, yeah, And Byerley was like, can I remove 2721 02:36:58,240 --> 02:37:01,440 Speaker 1: my comments from because she asked she she like, I 2722 02:37:01,440 --> 02:37:03,000 Speaker 1: don't know if it was a follow up, do you 2723 02:37:03,120 --> 02:37:07,480 Speaker 1: have any additional comments? And his additional comments were, can 2724 02:37:07,520 --> 02:37:10,480 Speaker 1: you please remove my my previous statements from the record, 2725 02:37:10,760 --> 02:37:14,160 Speaker 1: she said, And she emphatically said no and then published 2726 02:37:14,200 --> 02:37:19,040 Speaker 1: it internationally. This wasn't the first suspect incident regarding the 2727 02:37:19,160 --> 02:37:22,440 Speaker 1: local sheriffs. When Paul was at the ranch and the 2728 02:37:22,480 --> 02:37:26,480 Speaker 1: immediate aftermath of the original siege, he witnessed cops hanging 2729 02:37:26,520 --> 02:37:29,520 Speaker 1: out with a group of people who were actively harassing 2730 02:37:29,600 --> 02:37:33,800 Speaker 1: the ranch. I was here for a week and at 2731 02:37:33,879 --> 02:37:37,440 Speaker 1: one point they always like fifteen to twenty cars at 2732 02:37:38,080 --> 02:37:41,520 Speaker 1: shud Ranch. Which it's up to you to release that location, right, 2733 02:37:41,760 --> 02:37:45,640 Speaker 1: we just call the ranch. You can you can visit. 2734 02:37:45,720 --> 02:37:47,760 Speaker 1: You can see it from the you can you can 2735 02:37:47,800 --> 02:37:50,840 Speaker 1: see it from here. And um, there were two sheriffs 2736 02:37:50,840 --> 02:37:53,840 Speaker 1: deputies sitting at the curb the entire time as those 2737 02:37:54,040 --> 02:37:58,000 Speaker 1: cars pulled in there, and they were protecting our assets. Yeah. Well, 2738 02:37:58,000 --> 02:38:00,360 Speaker 1: they were sitting there side by side talk to each 2739 02:38:00,360 --> 02:38:03,119 Speaker 1: other while the cars told them that you probably said 2740 02:38:03,280 --> 02:38:06,040 Speaker 1: have said this before and I just don't didn't remember. Yeah, 2741 02:38:06,040 --> 02:38:08,320 Speaker 1: I mean it must them. So the other end of 2742 02:38:08,360 --> 02:38:15,039 Speaker 1: that is then when it got publicized, the sheriff then said, oh, 2743 02:38:15,120 --> 02:38:16,959 Speaker 1: we don't, we don't know anything about it, Like they 2744 02:38:17,000 --> 02:38:21,760 Speaker 1: didn't contact us. We didn't, They couldn't verify the statements 2745 02:38:21,800 --> 02:38:25,080 Speaker 1: made in the media about threats against the ranch. Were 2746 02:38:25,200 --> 02:38:27,560 Speaker 1: just hanging out at the fascist and they were super 2747 02:38:27,600 --> 02:38:30,720 Speaker 1: stooty about it. They made it sound like, well, ranch 2748 02:38:30,800 --> 02:38:33,040 Speaker 1: clearly doesn't want to be part of our community, so 2749 02:38:33,120 --> 02:38:35,840 Speaker 1: I would help them. That seemed to be the implication. 2750 02:38:36,160 --> 02:38:41,440 Speaker 1: Sheriff Byerley, who spoke at aft Oathkeepers rally, has since 2751 02:38:41,560 --> 02:38:46,680 Speaker 1: resigned as a sheriff, but for understandable reasons, the Unicorns 2752 02:38:46,920 --> 02:38:50,840 Speaker 1: still don't dial when they feel in danger. Instead, they 2753 02:38:50,879 --> 02:38:53,920 Speaker 1: reach out to Paul to Aldo and a network of 2754 02:38:54,000 --> 02:38:57,240 Speaker 1: community members who helped with their security both online and 2755 02:38:57,480 --> 02:39:01,520 Speaker 1: on the ground. They also routine train with firearms and 2756 02:39:01,600 --> 02:39:04,280 Speaker 1: have added a much more serious fence to the property 2757 02:39:04,600 --> 02:39:09,840 Speaker 1: than the one that the intruders climbed over. Right after 2758 02:39:10,120 --> 02:39:13,440 Speaker 1: James and I's most recent visit this past summer, Kiwi 2759 02:39:13,520 --> 02:39:16,080 Speaker 1: Farms started being in the news a lot more due 2760 02:39:16,080 --> 02:39:19,200 Speaker 1: to a campaign attempting to take it down. But as 2761 02:39:19,280 --> 02:39:22,800 Speaker 1: the hate Forum entered the discourse again, the Unicorns had 2762 02:39:22,840 --> 02:39:27,400 Speaker 1: started noticing cars driving past the ranch repeatedly, something that 2763 02:39:27,560 --> 02:39:31,400 Speaker 1: Paul Aldo and James observed during the siege, and now 2764 02:39:31,520 --> 02:39:34,560 Speaker 1: in just the past few weeks, trans people have been 2765 02:39:34,720 --> 02:39:37,800 Speaker 1: killed in a nightclub just an hour away from their house, 2766 02:39:38,440 --> 02:39:40,800 Speaker 1: just a few miles away from the bar where we 2767 02:39:40,920 --> 02:39:45,320 Speaker 1: met them this past summer. To celebrate at Jay's birthday tomorrow, 2768 02:39:45,480 --> 02:39:48,320 Speaker 1: we'll talk about what those threats mean for the ranch 2769 02:39:48,720 --> 02:40:06,560 Speaker 1: and where they are now. On our drive down from 2770 02:40:06,640 --> 02:40:09,720 Speaker 1: Denver to Westcliff. We were first going to meet up 2771 02:40:09,760 --> 02:40:13,720 Speaker 1: with the Unicorns in Colorado Springs for a little birthday dinner. 2772 02:40:14,800 --> 02:40:18,400 Speaker 1: James and I arrived a few hours early, so I 2773 02:40:18,600 --> 02:40:21,640 Speaker 1: had the bright idea to stop at the headquarters of 2774 02:40:21,760 --> 02:40:27,200 Speaker 1: the evangelical media organization focus on the Family. I hadn't 2775 02:40:27,240 --> 02:40:30,480 Speaker 1: been there since I was a little Christian kid, so 2776 02:40:30,800 --> 02:40:32,800 Speaker 1: I was curious what it would be like for me 2777 02:40:32,959 --> 02:40:35,959 Speaker 1: to walk through. Now, what was it like walking through 2778 02:40:36,000 --> 02:40:40,680 Speaker 1: their little headquarters and welcome center. What were the general vibes? 2779 02:40:41,640 --> 02:40:47,160 Speaker 1: That was fucking bonkers? Um, so we went in Initially, 2780 02:40:47,560 --> 02:40:52,879 Speaker 1: We've gone into the bookshop and I found a book 2781 02:40:52,920 --> 02:40:55,240 Speaker 1: that told me the holding hands is for play. That 2782 02:40:55,360 --> 02:40:58,360 Speaker 1: was called sex in a Marriage. I've seen a book 2783 02:40:58,400 --> 02:41:00,560 Speaker 1: with a pink triangle on the cover it that it's 2784 02:41:00,560 --> 02:41:04,560 Speaker 1: about LGBTQ people, which is deeply truck and traveling. Well, 2785 02:41:04,760 --> 02:41:08,119 Speaker 1: it's it's it's about men struggling with their sexual identity. 2786 02:41:08,480 --> 02:41:11,039 Speaker 1: I see on the way to stop that struggling. Yeah, 2787 02:41:11,240 --> 02:41:15,840 Speaker 1: genocide queer elimination of st rhetoric hasn't just been confined 2788 02:41:15,959 --> 02:41:21,000 Speaker 1: to Christian bookstores or the Internet. In November, it once 2789 02:41:21,040 --> 02:41:26,160 Speaker 1: again became very clear how this kind of NonStop hate 2790 02:41:26,200 --> 02:41:30,680 Speaker 1: speech being beamed into everyone's homes impacts them. On the 2791 02:41:30,800 --> 02:41:35,280 Speaker 1: eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, as Club Q gay 2792 02:41:35,360 --> 02:41:38,800 Speaker 1: bar in Colorado Springs was preparing for an all ages 2793 02:41:38,879 --> 02:41:42,320 Speaker 1: drag show, a twenty two year old shooter walked in 2794 02:41:42,680 --> 02:41:47,240 Speaker 1: and killed five people, leaving twenty five more injured. The 2795 02:41:47,280 --> 02:41:50,840 Speaker 1: shooter was ultimately tackled and pistol whipped by a US 2796 02:41:50,920 --> 02:41:54,800 Speaker 1: Army veteran, Richard Fierro, and stomped in the face by 2797 02:41:54,840 --> 02:41:59,440 Speaker 1: an unidentified trans woman. A few days after the club 2798 02:41:59,560 --> 02:42:03,560 Speaker 1: que joting on so called Thanksgiving, the Focus on the 2799 02:42:03,640 --> 02:42:08,920 Speaker 1: Family headquarters was defaced, leaving behind a graffiti message pointing 2800 02:42:08,959 --> 02:42:13,560 Speaker 1: out the organization's culpability from pioneering the kind of gay 2801 02:42:13,680 --> 02:42:19,480 Speaker 1: exterminationist propaganda that the modern conservative right is embracing. The 2802 02:42:19,560 --> 02:42:22,240 Speaker 1: message left on the property that James and I visited 2803 02:42:22,320 --> 02:42:26,200 Speaker 1: just a few months prior, read quote, their blood is 2804 02:42:26,360 --> 02:42:32,440 Speaker 1: on your hands, five lives taken way back in I 2805 02:42:32,520 --> 02:42:35,360 Speaker 1: put together behind the Bastards on Focus on the Family 2806 02:42:35,480 --> 02:42:39,360 Speaker 1: and their founder, James Dobson, and I've covered Focus on 2807 02:42:39,400 --> 02:42:44,520 Speaker 1: the Family's increase in anti trans propaganda earlier this year 2808 02:42:44,800 --> 02:42:48,400 Speaker 1: on this very show. After the graffiti was left on 2809 02:42:48,480 --> 02:42:51,800 Speaker 1: their headquarters on Thanksgiving, a statement was released by the 2810 02:42:51,920 --> 02:42:55,240 Speaker 1: Colorado People's Press, and I'm going to read a few 2811 02:42:55,360 --> 02:42:59,080 Speaker 1: parts of that quote. It is no accident that the 2812 02:42:59,200 --> 02:43:03,840 Speaker 1: club queue shoeoting happened in Colorado Springs, a city steeped 2813 02:43:03,959 --> 02:43:08,560 Speaker 1: in homophobia, transphobia, and white supremacy. It is no surprise 2814 02:43:08,640 --> 02:43:11,160 Speaker 1: that somebody did this in this city that is home 2815 02:43:11,280 --> 02:43:14,880 Speaker 1: to such a hateful organization as Focus on the Family. 2816 02:43:15,720 --> 02:43:18,560 Speaker 1: If you visit their website, you will see them eagerly 2817 02:43:18,720 --> 02:43:22,240 Speaker 1: display their desire to rid the world of all queer people. 2818 02:43:23,240 --> 02:43:26,199 Speaker 1: It is important to us that you understand why Focus 2819 02:43:26,280 --> 02:43:29,840 Speaker 1: on the Family must be held accountable for the ramifications 2820 02:43:30,000 --> 02:43:34,439 Speaker 1: of their hateful theology. You have likely seen the onslaught 2821 02:43:34,600 --> 02:43:37,760 Speaker 1: of anti trans legislation, of which Focus on the Family 2822 02:43:37,920 --> 02:43:42,400 Speaker 1: is a huge proponent, both in funding and propaganda. Focus 2823 02:43:42,480 --> 02:43:48,000 Speaker 1: on the Family's goal is to eradicate queerness. Unquote. Two 2824 02:43:48,200 --> 02:43:50,640 Speaker 1: of the five people killed in the club queue shooting 2825 02:43:50,840 --> 02:43:54,600 Speaker 1: were trans people, and in the days after the attack, 2826 02:43:55,160 --> 02:43:58,240 Speaker 1: figures on the right continued to call for attacks on 2827 02:43:58,320 --> 02:44:02,000 Speaker 1: trans people and drag queens, using their familiar language of 2828 02:44:02,400 --> 02:44:06,800 Speaker 1: groomers and grooming, while of course completely ignoring multiple figures 2829 02:44:06,879 --> 02:44:10,280 Speaker 1: within their own myths to have very well documented relationships 2830 02:44:10,320 --> 02:44:13,960 Speaker 1: with people convicted or suspected of sex crimes. But obviously 2831 02:44:14,120 --> 02:44:16,520 Speaker 1: evidence or logic doesn't really make a difference in these 2832 02:44:16,560 --> 02:44:20,040 Speaker 1: types of situations. What's happened is that a handful of 2833 02:44:20,240 --> 02:44:24,800 Speaker 1: figures on the right have decided that they can gain power, influence, 2834 02:44:24,879 --> 02:44:28,920 Speaker 1: and money by whipping up hatred towards queer people. With 2835 02:44:29,120 --> 02:44:32,680 Speaker 1: this hate has come an uptick in violence, and this 2836 02:44:32,840 --> 02:44:37,560 Speaker 1: only makes queer havens like the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch more important. 2837 02:44:38,680 --> 02:44:42,000 Speaker 1: Last month, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after a donut shop hosted 2838 02:44:42,040 --> 02:44:45,280 Speaker 1: a drag queen and queer art event, a man in 2839 02:44:45,360 --> 02:44:47,760 Speaker 1: a maca hat smashed the windows of the store with 2840 02:44:47,800 --> 02:44:51,280 Speaker 1: a baseball bat and threw in a Molotov cocktail. The 2841 02:44:51,360 --> 02:44:55,480 Speaker 1: attacker also taped a note with Bible verses and homophobic 2842 02:44:55,560 --> 02:44:58,760 Speaker 1: and transphobic slurs on the window of a neighboring shop. 2843 02:44:59,320 --> 02:45:01,960 Speaker 1: This wasn't the time the store had been targeted, and 2844 02:45:02,080 --> 02:45:05,080 Speaker 1: this attack happened a day before the shop was set 2845 02:45:05,200 --> 02:45:09,600 Speaker 1: to host another drag art event. On December three, a 2846 02:45:09,680 --> 02:45:13,760 Speaker 1: right wing activist and former US Army psychological operations officer 2847 02:45:14,240 --> 02:45:18,520 Speaker 1: claimed on Facebook that God had caused a power outage 2848 02:45:18,640 --> 02:45:22,119 Speaker 1: in Moore County, North Carolina, in an effort to shut 2849 02:45:22,200 --> 02:45:25,040 Speaker 1: down a drag show that was currently taking place in 2850 02:45:25,160 --> 02:45:29,920 Speaker 1: a local theater. Earlier that same day, a holiday themed 2851 02:45:30,000 --> 02:45:34,240 Speaker 1: drag show in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by a Unitarian Universalist 2852 02:45:34,360 --> 02:45:39,080 Speaker 1: church was canceled due to threats and protests outside by 2853 02:45:39,240 --> 02:45:43,600 Speaker 1: Proud Boys, Patriot Front and a number of unidentified armed 2854 02:45:43,680 --> 02:45:48,760 Speaker 1: men in Cammo Patriot Front chanted blood, liberty, and victory, 2855 02:45:49,520 --> 02:45:54,280 Speaker 1: while the Proud Boys chanted Feds Feds Feds back at them. 2856 02:46:08,640 --> 02:46:12,520 Speaker 1: Despite their disagreements, the two groups seemed perfectly fine working 2857 02:46:12,600 --> 02:46:16,320 Speaker 1: together to shut down the drag event. The Nazi group 2858 02:46:16,480 --> 02:46:18,920 Speaker 1: White Lives Matter Ohio was set up a few blocks 2859 02:46:18,959 --> 02:46:22,280 Speaker 1: away in their skull masks and were seek hiling two 2860 02:46:22,360 --> 02:46:26,600 Speaker 1: drivers passing by. After it became clear the drag show 2861 02:46:26,760 --> 02:46:29,520 Speaker 1: was not going to take place, the groups moved to 2862 02:46:29,600 --> 02:46:33,160 Speaker 1: a busier, more visible street to waive their groomer signs. 2863 02:46:33,959 --> 02:46:37,880 Speaker 1: A few dozen Patriot Front members stood chanting outside of 2864 02:46:37,920 --> 02:46:42,200 Speaker 1: a Chipotle as a Christian Diminiist flag flew behind them. 2865 02:46:43,680 --> 02:46:46,240 Speaker 1: On December seven, someone fired a gun through the window 2866 02:46:46,440 --> 02:46:49,280 Speaker 1: of a bar in rent in Washington after threats against 2867 02:46:49,280 --> 02:46:52,199 Speaker 1: the bar were posted online for hosting a drag queen 2868 02:46:52,400 --> 02:46:56,280 Speaker 1: story time Just a few days ago. On December the 2869 02:46:56,440 --> 02:47:02,160 Speaker 1: FBI designated extremist militia group named This Is Texas Freedom 2870 02:47:02,240 --> 02:47:06,480 Speaker 1: Force showed up armed with guns outside of a Christmas 2871 02:47:06,560 --> 02:47:10,400 Speaker 1: themed drag show in San Antonio, Texas. Other right wing 2872 02:47:10,480 --> 02:47:13,960 Speaker 1: groups like the San Antonio Family Association and the Fascist 2873 02:47:14,040 --> 02:47:18,400 Speaker 1: Patriot Front also had numbers present. By the end, the 2874 02:47:18,520 --> 02:47:23,080 Speaker 1: crowd protesting the drag show was greatly outnumbered by people 2875 02:47:23,240 --> 02:47:27,080 Speaker 1: showing up to support and defend the queer event, some 2876 02:47:27,240 --> 02:47:40,040 Speaker 1: of whom also showed up armed. What do we do? 2877 02:47:41,879 --> 02:47:45,000 Speaker 1: Something that was mentioned across the multiple interviews we did 2878 02:47:45,120 --> 02:47:50,119 Speaker 1: while visiting the ranch is the idea of microcosm and macrocosm. 2879 02:47:50,920 --> 02:47:54,000 Speaker 1: The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch story and the threats of violence 2880 02:47:54,080 --> 02:47:58,360 Speaker 1: that they have faced really does embody a microcosm version 2881 02:47:58,600 --> 02:48:03,360 Speaker 1: of the transphobic and queer eliminationist rhetoric and genocide campaign 2882 02:48:03,760 --> 02:48:07,680 Speaker 1: that the country as a whole is experiencing. It's just 2883 02:48:07,840 --> 02:48:11,600 Speaker 1: that this local manifestation of it happened to be on 2884 02:48:11,680 --> 02:48:15,840 Speaker 1: an alpaca farm. As odd as that may be, apparently 2885 02:48:16,000 --> 02:48:19,000 Speaker 1: kind of funny. And and then put the way they 2886 02:48:19,200 --> 02:48:21,160 Speaker 1: run with their head all the way down to the ground, 2887 02:48:21,320 --> 02:48:30,560 Speaker 1: and just yeah that impracticalities. Yeah, little camels, animals straight 2888 02:48:30,600 --> 02:48:35,800 Speaker 1: out of you know what they really are. They have 2889 02:48:35,879 --> 02:48:39,760 Speaker 1: the same amount of magic. Yeah, just driving up here 2890 02:48:39,879 --> 02:48:45,800 Speaker 1: seeing them, I was like, wow, Yeah, they are like 2891 02:48:46,040 --> 02:48:48,680 Speaker 1: unicorns are like a mythical and it's just kind of like, wow, 2892 02:48:48,800 --> 02:48:52,360 Speaker 1: is this real? It's like a fucking tont on what's on. 2893 02:48:54,240 --> 02:48:57,400 Speaker 1: They just looks so snuggleble. I want to snuggle them. 2894 02:48:57,680 --> 02:48:59,480 Speaker 1: And the way they walked like that, like that like 2895 02:48:59,640 --> 02:49:06,320 Speaker 1: Crew you're ocome. Yeah, when they do a trot like Americana. 2896 02:49:08,680 --> 02:49:11,720 Speaker 1: This is clown. He's an asshole, but he's a really 2897 02:49:11,800 --> 02:49:16,640 Speaker 1: good dad. Yeah. For this last episode of the series, 2898 02:49:17,000 --> 02:49:19,199 Speaker 1: we want to give you a sense of what regular 2899 02:49:19,320 --> 02:49:21,720 Speaker 1: life is like at the ranch now that it's been 2900 02:49:21,720 --> 02:49:25,000 Speaker 1: almost two years since the siege and people have had 2901 02:49:25,080 --> 02:49:30,119 Speaker 1: time to process, grow and adapt. One thing that's growing 2902 02:49:30,320 --> 02:49:36,080 Speaker 1: is the number of alpacas, something like that. With the 2903 02:49:36,240 --> 02:49:39,080 Speaker 1: recent crea is born, we are a hundred so about 2904 02:49:39,080 --> 02:49:44,720 Speaker 1: an alpaca. Um, let's talk a little bit about alpacas. 2905 02:49:44,800 --> 02:49:47,800 Speaker 1: I think they're interesting, right, And you came into both 2906 02:49:47,840 --> 02:49:53,080 Speaker 1: your alpaca as rescues. Yeah, yeah, were so. At the 2907 02:49:53,160 --> 02:49:58,360 Speaker 1: original ranch, we purchased ten alpaca, but it was like 2908 02:49:58,440 --> 02:50:01,240 Speaker 1: a rescue purchase. The only way that we could get 2909 02:50:02,560 --> 02:50:04,560 Speaker 1: them to give them up as if we paid money 2910 02:50:04,600 --> 02:50:07,160 Speaker 1: for them. But they were like they needed new homes. 2911 02:50:07,240 --> 02:50:09,480 Speaker 1: That was all from really lovely people. It was just 2912 02:50:09,560 --> 02:50:13,000 Speaker 1: like these weren't alpaca. They wanted um. And then we 2913 02:50:13,160 --> 02:50:17,400 Speaker 1: learned really quickly that there is a that there's a 2914 02:50:17,600 --> 02:50:22,240 Speaker 1: problem in America with alpaca ranchers aging out of being 2915 02:50:22,280 --> 02:50:25,760 Speaker 1: able to take care of these really massive herds that 2916 02:50:25,840 --> 02:50:31,039 Speaker 1: they've built and either euthanizing or splitting up herds, which 2917 02:50:31,240 --> 02:50:34,280 Speaker 1: is both things are not great for the health of 2918 02:50:34,400 --> 02:50:43,000 Speaker 1: the alpaca. Yeah. Um, that ends that story. But so 2919 02:50:43,200 --> 02:50:47,600 Speaker 1: we found really quickly that there is a as a rescue, 2920 02:50:47,760 --> 02:50:50,560 Speaker 1: we were able to help more animals and afford animals, 2921 02:50:50,640 --> 02:50:55,200 Speaker 1: you know, like uh because and because we were on 2922 02:50:55,320 --> 02:50:58,000 Speaker 1: the acres that were on we could take in entire 2923 02:50:58,200 --> 02:51:01,520 Speaker 1: herds and not break them up, which is a big deal. Um. 2924 02:51:01,800 --> 02:51:06,920 Speaker 1: And so our first intake of rescues was seventies six 2925 02:51:07,000 --> 02:51:11,080 Speaker 1: alpaca from a really great couple in horse Tooth that 2926 02:51:11,280 --> 02:51:17,600 Speaker 1: was retiring really great animals, hardy, really quality fiber um 2927 02:51:17,720 --> 02:51:19,640 Speaker 1: and we just kind of have been with that model 2928 02:51:19,680 --> 02:51:23,720 Speaker 1: ever since as a rescue. And the way you you 2929 02:51:24,440 --> 02:51:28,920 Speaker 1: like sustainable as the run cheese, in addition to working outside, 2930 02:51:29,000 --> 02:51:31,960 Speaker 1: is selling the fiber, right, the fiber from the animals. Yeah, 2931 02:51:32,240 --> 02:51:35,920 Speaker 1: both sheep and the alpaca provide fiber that we then 2932 02:51:35,959 --> 02:51:38,760 Speaker 1: turned into Really what we do is turn it into yarn. 2933 02:51:38,920 --> 02:51:42,040 Speaker 1: And then sell the yarn. We've never needed to go 2934 02:51:42,120 --> 02:51:44,320 Speaker 1: beyond that because we've always sold out of our yarn 2935 02:51:44,480 --> 02:51:48,560 Speaker 1: almost immediately. Speaking of sheep, here's a nice little clip 2936 02:51:48,720 --> 02:51:52,879 Speaker 1: of James fawning over some of the door sets. There's 2937 02:51:52,920 --> 02:52:05,120 Speaker 1: a dead nice looking sheep. There's some of them that 2938 02:52:05,200 --> 02:52:09,960 Speaker 1: are mixed with the remember what the black face Scotch 2939 02:52:10,040 --> 02:52:14,800 Speaker 1: black face? Yeah, um, and they're they're a really lovely mix. Yeah, 2940 02:52:14,920 --> 02:52:18,080 Speaker 1: that's a nice combination. Actually pretty rugged, big and just 2941 02:52:18,280 --> 02:52:20,920 Speaker 1: rugged like they put up with everything. Yeah. You can 2942 02:52:20,959 --> 02:52:23,200 Speaker 1: see their coats are just like bread, like they're just 2943 02:52:23,560 --> 02:52:27,360 Speaker 1: a doughey. Yeah. Yeah. The dorsets have like a nice 2944 02:52:27,440 --> 02:52:29,720 Speaker 1: thick fleece and they were like well fleas on the 2945 02:52:29,800 --> 02:52:32,680 Speaker 1: head and the night. Yeah, they make really good We 2946 02:52:32,840 --> 02:52:36,320 Speaker 1: mixed it with our alpacking yard this year. It's a 2947 02:52:36,440 --> 02:52:39,720 Speaker 1: wonderful yarn. It's really rough thinking that there's people that 2948 02:52:39,840 --> 02:52:45,520 Speaker 1: are just like fucking out pack of farmers. What's going 2949 02:52:45,600 --> 02:52:47,600 Speaker 1: wrong in your life? The US so angry at someone 2950 02:52:47,720 --> 02:52:51,760 Speaker 1: for looking after these fleefy animals. Yeah, Like the big 2951 02:52:51,840 --> 02:52:54,120 Speaker 1: thing was there was that moment where like they have 2952 02:52:54,360 --> 02:52:57,920 Speaker 1: the Nazi barid in town and that's what really like 2953 02:52:58,680 --> 02:53:00,840 Speaker 1: we called them out on it, and that's what started 2954 02:53:00,879 --> 02:53:08,680 Speaker 1: the animosity. But like it was a great of Nazis, Like, like, 2955 02:53:08,840 --> 02:53:12,800 Speaker 1: I don't feel bad, Like it's weird that they took 2956 02:53:12,879 --> 02:53:15,240 Speaker 1: it to the level of oh, yeah, well we're going 2957 02:53:15,280 --> 02:53:18,000 Speaker 1: to burn down your house and kill you all. That 2958 02:53:18,080 --> 02:53:22,199 Speaker 1: will show you, Yeah, it'll show us that your Nazis. 2959 02:53:23,959 --> 02:53:28,400 Speaker 1: In our conversation with Jordan's from The Tribune, as somebody 2960 02:53:28,640 --> 02:53:32,080 Speaker 1: who was born and raised in this area, he gave 2961 02:53:32,200 --> 02:53:35,920 Speaker 1: us his perspective on why people may have thought they 2962 02:53:36,000 --> 02:53:39,920 Speaker 1: could get away with attacking the ranch and how there 2963 02:53:39,959 --> 02:53:43,480 Speaker 1: has been this cultural shift in recent years to allow 2964 02:53:43,720 --> 02:53:47,480 Speaker 1: this kind of reactionary militancy. You know, again, I don't 2965 02:53:47,520 --> 02:53:50,520 Speaker 1: think it was anything super organized other than a bunch 2966 02:53:50,600 --> 02:53:54,280 Speaker 1: of these individuals that had already been sort of organized 2967 02:53:54,920 --> 02:53:59,040 Speaker 1: deciding to do something really stupid. Yeah, and knowing that 2968 02:53:59,160 --> 02:54:01,240 Speaker 1: the sheriff and will at other people wouldn't take it 2969 02:54:01,320 --> 02:54:03,400 Speaker 1: that seriously. That's what I wondered. Yeah, they thought they 2970 02:54:03,440 --> 02:54:05,320 Speaker 1: could get away with it, and they've been a history 2971 02:54:05,360 --> 02:54:07,000 Speaker 1: of that, Like if they've done as that sort of 2972 02:54:07,040 --> 02:54:09,560 Speaker 1: thing happened in the valley in the past, and there's 2973 02:54:09,600 --> 02:54:11,560 Speaker 1: been plenty of just as I said, but you know, 2974 02:54:11,640 --> 02:54:14,520 Speaker 1: but usually that stuff wasn't condoned, so eventually they get 2975 02:54:14,600 --> 02:54:19,400 Speaker 1: caught in terms of like like pressuring or minorities. You know, 2976 02:54:19,480 --> 02:54:21,640 Speaker 1: in the past, there was there was always some of 2977 02:54:21,680 --> 02:54:24,360 Speaker 1: those types of things, but it also wasn't condoned or 2978 02:54:24,400 --> 02:54:27,680 Speaker 1: even excused even against most If it came out, then 2979 02:54:27,720 --> 02:54:31,440 Speaker 1: those people were chunned and shamed even by Republicans. But 2980 02:54:32,160 --> 02:54:34,840 Speaker 1: these days it's much more like, well, we'll look the 2981 02:54:34,920 --> 02:54:39,320 Speaker 1: other way, you know. Now it's tipped the other direction, thankfully. 2982 02:54:39,560 --> 02:54:43,360 Speaker 1: So far, the efforts of these few individuals to harm 2983 02:54:43,640 --> 02:54:48,160 Speaker 1: or pressure the Unicorns out of the community have unequivocally failed, 2984 02:54:48,680 --> 02:54:52,480 Speaker 1: and in some ways just made stronger bonds. Yeah. They 2985 02:54:52,560 --> 02:54:54,879 Speaker 1: wanted you to leave, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean all 2986 02:54:54,959 --> 02:54:58,000 Speaker 1: of it was designed to make you so afraid you 2987 02:54:58,040 --> 02:55:04,680 Speaker 1: would go away. Yeah, like yeah, terrorism, and that hasn't happened, right, 2988 02:55:04,720 --> 02:55:08,080 Speaker 1: So you await a year and change, year and a 2989 02:55:08,080 --> 02:55:12,600 Speaker 1: half all nice? Yeah, two years in two years and 2990 02:55:12,720 --> 02:55:16,920 Speaker 1: change and a year plus since since racist And how 2991 02:55:16,959 --> 02:55:20,320 Speaker 1: are things now? I think at this point people legitimately 2992 02:55:20,360 --> 02:55:23,720 Speaker 1: love us like locals, like, yeah, people call us the Unicorns, 2993 02:55:23,920 --> 02:55:26,840 Speaker 1: and they everybody knows who we are. And it's and 2994 02:55:26,959 --> 02:55:30,720 Speaker 1: not in a bad way, like it's really we feel 2995 02:55:30,920 --> 02:55:34,800 Speaker 1: at home here. Because of the timing of their initial 2996 02:55:34,959 --> 02:55:39,320 Speaker 1: move over to West Cliff, it made local community building 2997 02:55:39,800 --> 02:55:43,160 Speaker 1: kind of challenging and little did they know that they 2998 02:55:43,200 --> 02:55:47,520 Speaker 1: would crucially need community and support in the month to come. 2999 02:55:48,480 --> 02:55:53,160 Speaker 1: So because it was during the pandemic uh and everything 3000 02:55:53,280 --> 02:55:57,560 Speaker 1: was on lockdown, we didn't establish a lot of community 3001 02:55:58,040 --> 02:56:02,360 Speaker 1: we Uh. Any moved in who was somebody we knew 3002 02:56:02,520 --> 02:56:05,720 Speaker 1: down in birth It which was very close to us, uh, 3003 02:56:05,800 --> 02:56:08,360 Speaker 1: and so she moved up here at the exact same 3004 02:56:08,440 --> 02:56:10,800 Speaker 1: time we were moving up here. So we did have 3005 02:56:11,080 --> 02:56:13,960 Speaker 1: like somebody that we could like talk to and interact with. 3006 02:56:14,080 --> 02:56:15,600 Speaker 1: But they were just as new to the area as 3007 02:56:15,680 --> 02:56:19,440 Speaker 1: we were. Um. And I mean honestly setting up a 3008 02:56:19,560 --> 02:56:22,720 Speaker 1: ranch and moving from one location to another when you're 3009 02:56:22,720 --> 02:56:26,240 Speaker 1: talking about like multiple hundreds of animals and at that 3010 02:56:26,320 --> 02:56:29,760 Speaker 1: point we were six people. Uh. We were very self 3011 02:56:29,840 --> 02:56:32,800 Speaker 1: focused for the first six months we were up here. UH. 3012 02:56:32,920 --> 02:56:35,240 Speaker 1: So our general sweep was they have Shakespeare in the 3013 02:56:35,320 --> 02:56:40,200 Speaker 1: park and it's a tourist town, so it seems great. 3014 02:56:40,840 --> 02:56:44,080 Speaker 1: We moved here because we could afford this house and 3015 02:56:44,240 --> 02:56:47,800 Speaker 1: no other house in Colorado uh, and then and then 3016 02:56:47,879 --> 02:56:50,119 Speaker 1: it slowly started to become a parent that we've moved 3017 02:56:50,160 --> 02:56:54,720 Speaker 1: into a very red area. But again, there wasn't any 3018 02:56:54,800 --> 02:56:59,879 Speaker 1: overt signs upon arrival, Like everybody was cool and honestly, 3019 02:57:00,040 --> 02:57:04,920 Speaker 1: like people are still pretty cool of people that suck. 3020 02:57:05,760 --> 02:57:09,600 Speaker 1: As things have steadily stabilized and settled into a version 3021 02:57:09,680 --> 02:57:13,560 Speaker 1: of normal, the Unicorns have been getting more involved throughout 3022 02:57:13,640 --> 02:57:17,160 Speaker 1: the local community. A little while back, they stepped up 3023 02:57:17,240 --> 02:57:20,360 Speaker 1: to assist with recycling for the county. We stepped up 3024 02:57:20,400 --> 02:57:23,080 Speaker 1: for a small period of time when the recycling company 3025 02:57:23,560 --> 02:57:27,720 Speaker 1: that was handling the counties recycling folded. We stepped up 3026 02:57:27,760 --> 02:57:30,680 Speaker 1: with our horse trailers and just collected recycling and drove 3027 02:57:30,800 --> 02:57:35,959 Speaker 1: it to a facility. Um. Now there's actually a facility 3028 02:57:36,200 --> 02:57:40,360 Speaker 1: in the Westcliffe Landfill that does recycling for the this 3029 02:57:40,560 --> 02:57:43,680 Speaker 1: county and the neighboring three counties. Um. And that was 3030 02:57:43,760 --> 02:57:47,880 Speaker 1: a building that like we designed and the person who's 3031 02:57:47,959 --> 02:57:52,160 Speaker 1: running at Rocky Mountain Rocky Mountain Recycling, Joni's her name. 3032 02:57:52,879 --> 02:57:55,920 Speaker 1: Amazing people. They're doing great things and we're glad that 3033 02:57:56,000 --> 02:57:58,280 Speaker 1: we could help in whatever we could. It just became 3034 02:57:58,320 --> 02:58:01,400 Speaker 1: a government project and that's when we stepped out because 3035 02:58:01,440 --> 02:58:04,240 Speaker 1: that's not really what we're about. But yeah, and as 3036 02:58:04,520 --> 02:58:08,600 Speaker 1: socialization has been able to get more possible since the pandemic, 3037 02:58:09,240 --> 02:58:12,720 Speaker 1: the Unicorns have developed ways to connect with the existing 3038 02:58:12,800 --> 02:58:17,320 Speaker 1: community of queers and weirdos in the area. Jen put 3039 02:58:17,400 --> 02:58:19,880 Speaker 1: together like a weekly game night, and it's it's like 3040 02:58:20,000 --> 02:58:22,880 Speaker 1: slowly growing and we're bringing in queer people to play 3041 02:58:22,959 --> 02:58:26,480 Speaker 1: board games and stuff. Yeah, we've got, uh, four different 3042 02:58:26,520 --> 02:58:30,360 Speaker 1: people from in town who you know, otherwise don't really 3043 02:58:30,440 --> 02:58:32,440 Speaker 1: have a connection to the ranch coming in to play 3044 02:58:32,520 --> 02:58:35,920 Speaker 1: a board game or maybe Magic Night and I never 3045 02:58:36,040 --> 02:58:40,119 Speaker 1: playing Suspicion. That's going to keep growing. Uh, it might 3046 02:58:40,200 --> 02:58:43,039 Speaker 1: be Arkham Horror third Edition, or it might be Mysterium, 3047 02:58:43,160 --> 02:58:47,560 Speaker 1: or it might be Magic. Okay, magic because I would 3048 02:58:47,600 --> 02:58:50,360 Speaker 1: I would would love to beat everyone here in a game. 3049 02:58:50,520 --> 02:58:52,640 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you should play with us. Yes, that fun, 3050 02:58:54,000 --> 02:58:56,080 Speaker 1: even little things like that, like like and it's just 3051 02:58:56,120 --> 02:58:58,800 Speaker 1: always to build a community. Yeah, it's important because we 3052 02:58:58,920 --> 02:59:00,640 Speaker 1: need to be here when like if it gets really 3053 02:59:00,680 --> 02:59:05,480 Speaker 1: bad on the macro cosm scale, things do seem to 3054 02:59:05,560 --> 02:59:09,600 Speaker 1: be getting bad. When we talked with Jordan's about how 3055 02:59:09,800 --> 02:59:14,119 Speaker 1: George from The Sentinel was targeting the Unicorns, the conversation. 3056 02:59:14,400 --> 02:59:18,280 Speaker 1: The segued into how there's been this shift from economic 3057 02:59:18,320 --> 02:59:24,400 Speaker 1: conservatism to this rising brand of far right Christian vanguardism. 3058 02:59:25,000 --> 02:59:27,040 Speaker 1: I think if I was to classify some of the 3059 02:59:27,440 --> 02:59:29,560 Speaker 1: movement you see in conservative America right now, where it 3060 02:59:29,600 --> 02:59:32,440 Speaker 1: all starts to make sense is that in the past, 3061 02:59:32,480 --> 02:59:35,040 Speaker 1: conservatism was always trying to push against sort of this 3062 02:59:35,160 --> 02:59:38,120 Speaker 1: idea of revolution or progress or too fast. You know, 3063 02:59:38,400 --> 02:59:40,600 Speaker 1: they always go back to the French Revolution. That's where 3064 02:59:40,600 --> 02:59:42,840 Speaker 1: the left and right kind of started saying, hey, if 3065 02:59:42,879 --> 02:59:44,879 Speaker 1: you move too quickly with progress, everybody gets their heads 3066 02:59:44,959 --> 02:59:47,400 Speaker 1: chopped off, you know. So that was kind of conservatism, 3067 02:59:47,440 --> 02:59:50,160 Speaker 1: which is, we don't really believe in anything necessarily, We're 3068 02:59:50,200 --> 02:59:52,040 Speaker 1: just going to hold the tradition and just kind of 3069 02:59:52,120 --> 02:59:55,119 Speaker 1: be saying no a lot. But at the same time, 3070 02:59:55,200 --> 02:59:59,920 Speaker 1: that's how conservatism was here until the Soviet Union fell, 3071 03:00:00,560 --> 03:00:02,280 Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden something switched, which is, 3072 03:00:02,480 --> 03:00:05,320 Speaker 1: we have the system that one our system should spread 3073 03:00:05,360 --> 03:00:07,320 Speaker 1: across the world, because if every day but he did 3074 03:00:07,320 --> 03:00:11,000 Speaker 1: American style capitalist democracy, we would enter this weird and 3075 03:00:11,240 --> 03:00:19,920 Speaker 1: randy in utopia. Yeah, into history, but on a conservative side. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, 3076 03:00:20,040 --> 03:00:21,960 Speaker 1: That's exactly what it was. And but the problems is 3077 03:00:22,000 --> 03:00:25,480 Speaker 1: two thousand one particularly here pushed it over. It went 3078 03:00:25,560 --> 03:00:28,160 Speaker 1: from like, okay, maybe two we're actually going to try 3079 03:00:28,200 --> 03:00:31,400 Speaker 1: to push this on other countries. And really what I 3080 03:00:31,560 --> 03:00:35,760 Speaker 1: called the right or the conservative right now they got 3081 03:00:35,800 --> 03:00:38,560 Speaker 1: bit by the utopian bug, which is if everybody is 3082 03:00:38,640 --> 03:00:41,120 Speaker 1: armed to the teeth, if everybody lives the way that 3083 03:00:41,200 --> 03:00:44,040 Speaker 1: they dictate they should live, which is some weird and 3084 03:00:44,240 --> 03:00:47,480 Speaker 1: randy in version of of life and morality, then we'll 3085 03:00:47,560 --> 03:00:52,000 Speaker 1: enter utopia. And so if anybody stands against you as 3086 03:00:52,080 --> 03:00:55,920 Speaker 1: that prophet, you are the enemy. So that can be 3087 03:00:56,320 --> 03:00:58,720 Speaker 1: That's why the right now turns on themselves all the time. 3088 03:00:59,560 --> 03:01:02,160 Speaker 1: Is any but it stands against them is the enemy? 3089 03:01:02,480 --> 03:01:07,439 Speaker 1: A liberal stops utopia? Is there definite? Anybody that stops utopia? 3090 03:01:07,480 --> 03:01:09,800 Speaker 1: You have to go through this is liberal or communist, 3091 03:01:10,360 --> 03:01:11,800 Speaker 1: you know. And I think if you look at it 3092 03:01:11,840 --> 03:01:14,000 Speaker 1: in that lens, the world makes a lot more sense. 3093 03:01:14,440 --> 03:01:16,480 Speaker 1: I don't see very much utopianism at all on the 3094 03:01:16,560 --> 03:01:20,760 Speaker 1: left anymore, whereas on the right it's everywhere. So it's 3095 03:01:20,760 --> 03:01:22,959 Speaker 1: one of those weird political things that's flopped the other 3096 03:01:23,040 --> 03:01:26,520 Speaker 1: direction now, just in different words, different ways. Utopianism is 3097 03:01:26,560 --> 03:01:29,640 Speaker 1: on the right now. They also need to have some 3098 03:01:29,760 --> 03:01:33,119 Speaker 1: type of conflict. They need to have a purging episode. 3099 03:01:33,280 --> 03:01:35,360 Speaker 1: You have to purge everybody that's on the other side 3100 03:01:35,400 --> 03:01:38,320 Speaker 1: to enter utopia. And that that's why Christians are really 3101 03:01:38,360 --> 03:01:40,800 Speaker 1: into it. They read the Book of Revelation. We have 3102 03:01:41,000 --> 03:01:42,920 Speaker 1: to have the civil war, we have to purge all 3103 03:01:42,959 --> 03:01:47,160 Speaker 1: the leftists because on the other side we enter the 3104 03:01:47,440 --> 03:01:52,080 Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. It's the exactly, It's absolute millinarianism. And 3105 03:01:52,160 --> 03:01:54,640 Speaker 1: that's what we're facing here. If I was a summit up, 3106 03:01:54,640 --> 03:01:57,520 Speaker 1: that's how would say it was. It's definitely millenarism in 3107 03:01:58,680 --> 03:02:07,480 Speaker 1: the local form it. If we are going to look 3108 03:02:07,600 --> 03:02:11,200 Speaker 1: at the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch story as a microcosm of 3109 03:02:11,520 --> 03:02:14,920 Speaker 1: transphobic violence, then I think it should also be seen 3110 03:02:15,120 --> 03:02:19,160 Speaker 1: as a case of study of the invaluable role solidarity 3111 03:02:19,240 --> 03:02:23,880 Speaker 1: and community have in resisting the concerted effort to harm 3112 03:02:24,080 --> 03:02:28,800 Speaker 1: queer people back when the siege was just starting. Simply 3113 03:02:28,920 --> 03:02:32,280 Speaker 1: feeling able to go to sleep because people were willing 3114 03:02:32,360 --> 03:02:35,480 Speaker 1: to show up for you is just one example from 3115 03:02:35,520 --> 03:02:39,040 Speaker 1: this story. That's a powerful display of the values many 3116 03:02:39,120 --> 03:02:44,000 Speaker 1: people claim to have but seldom implement. We were exhausted 3117 03:02:44,080 --> 03:02:46,920 Speaker 1: and so to have people show up and be like you, 3118 03:02:47,360 --> 03:02:51,119 Speaker 1: like you, you will be safe tonight, lay down, gets 3119 03:02:51,160 --> 03:02:58,080 Speaker 1: sleep and trusted enough to sleep like because it was incredible. 3120 03:02:58,120 --> 03:03:02,119 Speaker 1: It was incredible. As the unicorns continue to make connections 3121 03:03:02,200 --> 03:03:05,160 Speaker 1: and become a known staple of the larger local community, 3122 03:03:05,800 --> 03:03:10,200 Speaker 1: it's made organizing any harassment against them more difficult. I 3123 03:03:10,280 --> 03:03:11,760 Speaker 1: bet a bunch of those people who hate us have 3124 03:03:11,879 --> 03:03:14,720 Speaker 1: tested the waters with their friends, like all those unicorns, 3125 03:03:15,040 --> 03:03:17,160 Speaker 1: and they're like, what, they're cool, and oh, yeah that's 3126 03:03:17,160 --> 03:03:22,520 Speaker 1: what that's that's why I meant um. But that's been 3127 03:03:22,560 --> 03:03:27,320 Speaker 1: our ongoing precautions because it hasn't the animosity from that 3128 03:03:27,640 --> 03:03:31,160 Speaker 1: group hasn't gone away, and it does resurface every once 3129 03:03:31,160 --> 03:03:33,320 Speaker 1: in a while, like some people threatened to kill our 3130 03:03:33,440 --> 03:03:36,280 Speaker 1: dogs a little while back and things like that. So 3131 03:03:36,720 --> 03:03:39,200 Speaker 1: the same people, we're not sure possibly yeah, no way 3132 03:03:39,400 --> 03:03:44,680 Speaker 1: confirming or denying. Nowadays, some security measures have been integrated 3133 03:03:45,160 --> 03:03:49,080 Speaker 1: into their everyday lives thanks to support they've gotten from strangers. 3134 03:03:49,680 --> 03:03:53,120 Speaker 1: Uh we definitely we have cameras, so uh we we 3135 03:03:53,160 --> 03:03:55,840 Speaker 1: have to go fund me where people amazingly kind of 3136 03:03:55,959 --> 03:03:59,200 Speaker 1: like through a large amount of money at us, which 3137 03:03:59,280 --> 03:04:04,760 Speaker 1: afforded a better fence and cameras everywhere on property, so 3138 03:04:04,879 --> 03:04:08,560 Speaker 1: that in things like gear, yeah, better gear and upgrades 3139 03:04:08,600 --> 03:04:11,960 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So um, we kind of earned 3140 03:04:12,000 --> 03:04:16,480 Speaker 1: an ongoing keep us safe mode. But like cameras and guns, 3141 03:04:16,640 --> 03:04:18,880 Speaker 1: that's how we do it. And I do, I really 3142 03:04:18,959 --> 03:04:21,320 Speaker 1: do think like we showed the shitty people of this 3143 03:04:21,440 --> 03:04:25,920 Speaker 1: town like, don't mess with well. We showed what well. 3144 03:04:26,000 --> 03:04:29,920 Speaker 1: What we showed was that community matters and if you 3145 03:04:30,000 --> 03:04:32,920 Speaker 1: weren't a ship hell, community will show up for you. 3146 03:04:34,200 --> 03:04:37,480 Speaker 1: The day after the club queue shooting once again, the 3147 03:04:37,680 --> 03:04:42,199 Speaker 1: ranch posted a tweet asking for people to come. This time. 3148 03:04:42,480 --> 03:04:45,680 Speaker 1: They didn't need help, they wanted to offer it. They're 3149 03:04:45,720 --> 03:04:49,120 Speaker 1: only an hour or so away from Colorado Springs, and 3150 03:04:49,240 --> 03:04:51,600 Speaker 1: they wanted to offer their home as a place to heal, 3151 03:04:52,000 --> 03:04:55,440 Speaker 1: to talk, and to begin moving forward as a part 3152 03:04:55,520 --> 03:05:00,720 Speaker 1: of the community struck by violence and hate. In addition 3153 03:05:00,840 --> 03:05:04,080 Speaker 1: to a home for the ranchers and the animals, the 3154 03:05:04,240 --> 03:05:08,160 Speaker 1: ranch also provides emergency housing for queer people who aren't 3155 03:05:08,320 --> 03:05:11,880 Speaker 1: safe wherever they currently are. There have been lots of 3156 03:05:11,959 --> 03:05:14,960 Speaker 1: residents at the ranch in the four years Stephen operating. 3157 03:05:15,520 --> 03:05:18,840 Speaker 1: Some of them come briefly and use the stability to 3158 03:05:19,040 --> 03:05:22,000 Speaker 1: get set up with a fresh start in some place. 3159 03:05:22,800 --> 03:05:26,360 Speaker 1: Some others intend to stay but find the country life 3160 03:05:26,440 --> 03:05:30,640 Speaker 1: isn't for them, and some like j become permanent fixtures 3161 03:05:30,840 --> 03:05:33,320 Speaker 1: on the ranch. The term you've kind of used a 3162 03:05:33,360 --> 03:05:36,080 Speaker 1: lot to describe this place is like a queer haven. 3163 03:05:37,280 --> 03:05:42,320 Speaker 1: And the past year, definitely there's been a pretty volatile 3164 03:05:42,640 --> 03:05:46,560 Speaker 1: increase in transphobia and queer phobia, even like a resurgence 3165 03:05:46,560 --> 03:05:50,119 Speaker 1: of homophobia. So as this type of stuff is happening, 3166 03:05:50,200 --> 03:05:52,040 Speaker 1: as we're seeing more kind of rhetoric around like a 3167 03:05:52,080 --> 03:05:55,600 Speaker 1: queer genocide or queer exterminationism, how do you see this 3168 03:05:55,800 --> 03:05:59,160 Speaker 1: place and you know, possible places like it fitting into 3169 03:05:59,400 --> 03:06:02,440 Speaker 1: kind of how we how the world seems to be going. Yeah, 3170 03:06:02,560 --> 03:06:05,920 Speaker 1: So what we've seen, aside from people wanting to come 3171 03:06:06,000 --> 03:06:08,800 Speaker 1: up here and live permanently that we're we've put that 3172 03:06:08,879 --> 03:06:12,960 Speaker 1: on hold right now because we're just kind of, yeah, 3173 03:06:13,000 --> 03:06:15,480 Speaker 1: we we don't have the space to like facilitate. But 3174 03:06:16,200 --> 03:06:19,040 Speaker 1: what we have found is something that we are as 3175 03:06:19,120 --> 03:06:22,440 Speaker 1: a haven. What the thing that we do that's most 3176 03:06:22,480 --> 03:06:25,320 Speaker 1: important is groups of queer people will come here for 3177 03:06:25,440 --> 03:06:29,280 Speaker 1: a recharge and to feel like it is recharging to 3178 03:06:29,360 --> 03:06:32,720 Speaker 1: spend a week up here in community with other queer 3179 03:06:32,800 --> 03:06:37,280 Speaker 1: people with no burden from the outside and just being 3180 03:06:37,400 --> 03:06:42,520 Speaker 1: yourself network. Yeah, and like kind of re igniting your 3181 03:06:42,640 --> 03:06:47,800 Speaker 1: fire for revolution and for your and kind of I 3182 03:06:47,879 --> 03:06:50,440 Speaker 1: don't know, like I don't know, like touching base and 3183 03:06:50,520 --> 03:06:54,520 Speaker 1: realizing that like the community is still big, it is 3184 03:06:54,600 --> 03:06:57,880 Speaker 1: still growing, people are still standing strong. Being able to 3185 03:06:57,920 --> 03:07:00,960 Speaker 1: come up here and really in vibe that for a 3186 03:07:01,040 --> 03:07:05,520 Speaker 1: week or two has been from the letters I get 3187 03:07:05,720 --> 03:07:08,640 Speaker 1: really important to people and so that that is what 3188 03:07:08,800 --> 03:07:14,320 Speaker 1: we like deliver routinely. Um. We do also like emergency, 3189 03:07:14,640 --> 03:07:18,520 Speaker 1: like save people when we can, Like if you're just 3190 03:07:18,600 --> 03:07:20,160 Speaker 1: got kicked out on the street, you don't know what 3191 03:07:20,280 --> 03:07:22,560 Speaker 1: to do, but you can kind of like you have 3192 03:07:22,720 --> 03:07:25,280 Speaker 1: somewhere to go, but you can't get there yet. We 3193 03:07:25,400 --> 03:07:28,240 Speaker 1: are a really good way station for people in that position. 3194 03:07:28,360 --> 03:07:30,920 Speaker 1: You come up, uh you know, touch grass for a 3195 03:07:31,000 --> 03:07:33,080 Speaker 1: week and then go back out into the world like 3196 03:07:33,959 --> 03:07:38,879 Speaker 1: and given you know, climate collapse and encroaching fascism, um, 3197 03:07:39,160 --> 03:07:42,039 Speaker 1: which if you don't get then you need to probably 3198 03:07:42,280 --> 03:07:45,720 Speaker 1: study your history. Listen to this podcast more often. Probably yeah, 3199 03:07:45,840 --> 03:07:52,160 Speaker 1: probably there there. You know, there's gonna be rainbow railroads. Um, 3200 03:07:52,920 --> 03:07:55,800 Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of bad things happening, 3201 03:07:56,680 --> 03:07:59,160 Speaker 1: and it's gonna happen quickly. Well, we'll still be here. 3202 03:07:59,240 --> 03:08:01,080 Speaker 1: We're trying to grow out of a size that like 3203 03:08:01,800 --> 03:08:04,400 Speaker 1: and help people more directly. Well, but also we are 3204 03:08:04,480 --> 03:08:07,520 Speaker 1: already still here. Yeah we didn't grow, we'd still be 3205 03:08:07,640 --> 03:08:09,320 Speaker 1: here and you could count on us, you know what 3206 03:08:09,360 --> 03:08:12,640 Speaker 1: I mean. But the networks that are set up, um 3207 03:08:13,360 --> 03:08:17,200 Speaker 1: like being able to quickly get people out of the country, 3208 03:08:17,320 --> 03:08:20,400 Speaker 1: being able to quickly get people to safety from anywhere 3209 03:08:20,480 --> 03:08:23,720 Speaker 1: in the country. Uh, that's what we have been focusing 3210 03:08:23,800 --> 03:08:28,560 Speaker 1: on what watching, much like we started in response to 3211 03:08:28,800 --> 03:08:31,400 Speaker 1: the violence that was that was ratcheting because of the 3212 03:08:31,400 --> 03:08:36,280 Speaker 1: Trump administration. We haven't lessened that right like we are. 3213 03:08:36,480 --> 03:08:41,160 Speaker 1: We're setting up networks and possibilities to get people safe 3214 03:08:41,480 --> 03:08:45,560 Speaker 1: from very unsafe situations in this country. And that's kind 3215 03:08:45,560 --> 03:08:48,960 Speaker 1: of where it's going fucking everywhere right now. So that 3216 03:08:49,120 --> 03:08:53,199 Speaker 1: kind of networking has we've found not only bolstered people, 3217 03:08:53,280 --> 03:08:57,080 Speaker 1: but is really important. The need for places like these 3218 03:08:57,480 --> 03:09:00,960 Speaker 1: is growing just as quickly as the any factured panic 3219 03:09:01,040 --> 03:09:05,440 Speaker 1: around drag shows. In response, the Unicorns have decided to 3220 03:09:05,560 --> 03:09:09,080 Speaker 1: expand to another property in the valley and one in 3221 03:09:09,240 --> 03:09:13,280 Speaker 1: Boulder County. These properties will allow them to serve a 3222 03:09:13,400 --> 03:09:17,800 Speaker 1: larger community, to grow crops, have horses, and increase the 3223 03:09:17,840 --> 03:09:22,080 Speaker 1: amount of emergency housing they can provide. The Unicorns have 3224 03:09:22,280 --> 03:09:24,600 Speaker 1: launched a new go fund meat to help cover some 3225 03:09:24,720 --> 03:09:27,480 Speaker 1: of the starting costs to get the new locations up 3226 03:09:27,520 --> 03:09:32,000 Speaker 1: and running and begin farming operations. The additions would not 3227 03:09:32,160 --> 03:09:36,040 Speaker 1: only be providing more housing and income, but also add 3228 03:09:36,120 --> 03:09:39,640 Speaker 1: the ability to offer support groups and host queer events 3229 03:09:39,760 --> 03:09:42,920 Speaker 1: that are safe and accessible to focus in and around 3230 03:09:43,040 --> 03:09:47,320 Speaker 1: Boulder County, Colorado. You know, we've had some really intimate 3231 03:09:47,440 --> 03:09:49,600 Speaker 1: conversations with some queer people that are like, you know, 3232 03:09:49,800 --> 03:09:52,400 Speaker 1: like what you're doing is kind of keeping me going. 3233 03:09:53,560 --> 03:10:02,160 Speaker 1: So it's it's pretty seriously big has Uh. It's why 3234 03:10:02,240 --> 03:10:04,200 Speaker 1: we weigh everything so heavily, because it's like, look, we 3235 03:10:04,280 --> 03:10:11,240 Speaker 1: can't fail. Like people people put that much faith and 3236 03:10:11,400 --> 03:10:13,800 Speaker 1: like belief on what you're doing. You can't, um, you 3237 03:10:13,840 --> 03:10:16,600 Speaker 1: can't let them down. Like we've said from the beginning, 3238 03:10:16,680 --> 03:10:18,880 Speaker 1: like this project isn't about us, Oh yeah, Like this 3239 03:10:18,959 --> 03:10:21,680 Speaker 1: project is about the community and giving giving us a 3240 03:10:21,760 --> 03:10:26,680 Speaker 1: stronghold of just fucking hope. Instead of walking away from 3241 03:10:26,720 --> 03:10:30,320 Speaker 1: this series thinking, oh I'm gonna go move to the ranch, 3242 03:10:30,720 --> 03:10:34,280 Speaker 1: because I guarantee there's not enough room for everybody listening, 3243 03:10:34,800 --> 03:10:39,480 Speaker 1: even with the ongoing expansion. But people should take what 3244 03:10:39,680 --> 03:10:43,000 Speaker 1: we've learned from the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch and apply it 3245 03:10:43,120 --> 03:10:46,800 Speaker 1: elsewhere wherever you are. You can apply this example, with 3246 03:10:47,240 --> 03:10:51,120 Speaker 1: all of its ups and downs, to perspective havens across 3247 03:10:51,240 --> 03:10:55,959 Speaker 1: the continent, whether in cities or in the country. Building 3248 03:10:56,240 --> 03:10:59,880 Speaker 1: queer zones doesn't need to take form as a comp 3249 03:11:00,040 --> 03:11:05,160 Speaker 1: letely isolated, closed off commune as we've seen here. Having 3250 03:11:05,240 --> 03:11:09,120 Speaker 1: connections and fostering community with those around you is a 3251 03:11:09,360 --> 03:11:13,720 Speaker 1: crucial part of maintaining a livelihood beyond just mere survival. 3252 03:11:14,920 --> 03:11:18,760 Speaker 1: While this has been a story about the Internet and 3253 03:11:19,040 --> 03:11:22,800 Speaker 1: how it provides both positive connections and a medium for 3254 03:11:22,920 --> 03:11:27,000 Speaker 1: some of the worst beginned hatred, and of story about guns, 3255 03:11:27,280 --> 03:11:29,440 Speaker 1: both how they have been used as a tool to 3256 03:11:29,520 --> 03:11:33,039 Speaker 1: protect trans people and rule Colorado, as well as being 3257 03:11:33,320 --> 03:11:36,440 Speaker 1: part of the original threat to translives and now a 3258 03:11:36,520 --> 03:11:40,400 Speaker 1: seemingly increasing one. But if there's one thing that I 3259 03:11:40,520 --> 03:11:44,080 Speaker 1: hope people can take away from this story, it's how 3260 03:11:44,440 --> 03:11:49,200 Speaker 1: all of these positive aspects are meaningless unless people are 3261 03:11:49,280 --> 03:11:53,920 Speaker 1: willing to demonstrate solidarity and work towards building a community 3262 03:11:54,080 --> 03:11:57,760 Speaker 1: that's capable of ensuring a queer haven, like the Tenacious 3263 03:11:57,840 --> 03:12:02,160 Speaker 1: Unicorn Ranch, is able to con tinue despite threats from 3264 03:12:02,240 --> 03:12:06,440 Speaker 1: queer exterminationists. If you want to keep up with the Ranch, 3265 03:12:06,920 --> 03:12:10,280 Speaker 1: you can find them at Tenacious Unicorn Ranch dot com, 3266 03:12:10,800 --> 03:12:13,440 Speaker 1: where you can also find their Patreon and the go 3267 03:12:13,640 --> 03:12:17,800 Speaker 1: fund me page for their expansion. You can find James 3268 03:12:18,040 --> 03:12:21,240 Speaker 1: at James Stout and you can find me at Hungry 3269 03:12:21,240 --> 03:12:28,160 Speaker 1: About I See you on the other side. Hey, We'll 3270 03:12:28,200 --> 03:12:31,240 Speaker 1: be back Monday with more episodes every week from now 3271 03:12:31,400 --> 03:12:33,959 Speaker 1: until the heat death of the Universe. It Could Happen 3272 03:12:34,040 --> 03:12:36,320 Speaker 1: Here is a production of cool Zone Media. For more 3273 03:12:36,400 --> 03:12:39,160 Speaker 1: podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zone 3274 03:12:39,200 --> 03:12:41,040 Speaker 1: media dot com, or check us out on the I 3275 03:12:41,160 --> 03:12:44,360 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 3276 03:12:44,800 --> 03:12:46,920 Speaker 1: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 3277 03:12:47,000 --> 03:12:50,440 Speaker 1: monthly at cool zone Media dot com slash sources. Thanks 3278 03:12:50,520 --> 03:12:51,000 Speaker 1: for listening.