Right-wing militia group patrolled Ferguson rooftops with rifles

The Oath Keepers are back and patrolling the rooftops of Ferguson—or at least they were until being asked to stand down by the St. Louis County Police Department. It’s the latest bid for relevance by the militia-esque organization—largely comprised of government veterans who promise to stand armed alongside citizens against the U.S. government—which sprung up amid the rhetoric of resistance in the early days of the Obama administration.

Even with vigilante overtones, trying to secure private property against looters is arguably the most honorable incarnation of The Oath Keepers. While the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described the group as “mysterious”, the Oath Keepers have been hiding in plain site since launched by a former Ron Paul aide named Stewart Rhodes, warning of a tyrannical government months after President Obama took the oath of office. What follows is some of my initial reporting on the rise of the group, published in Wingnuts.

“You need to be alert and aware of how close we are to having our constitutional republic destroyed!”

So thundered Stewart Rhodes to a wave of applause on Lexington Green, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2009. The crowd assembled including military veterans and reservists, cops and firefighters, and no small number of Revolutionary War re-enactors. It was the first public meeting of the Oath Keepers. The location and date of the gathering had been chosen carefully. It was the anniversary of the first battle of the American Revolution on that very spot. The Oath Keeper Web site featured a quote from George Washington to set the tone: “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own.” The Oath Keepers then added their own dark warning: “Such a time is near at hand again.”

Lone Wolf wrote:

"Only in America."


Armed Fruit Loop patrols with Peter Pan complexes..
Seemingly spotted a perfect opportunity to lift their public profile ~ and took it !!!