Hidden in Plain Sight: Save Anqhorage

Trump to insurrectionists: 'We love you. You're very special.'

Last year, Wasilla resident Aaron J. Mileur, who, according to public records, is a registered voter of the Alaska Republican Party, was arrested by the FBI for his alleged participation in the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. According to the FBI's statement of facts, Mileur uploaded photographs and video footage that depicted himself inside the U.S. Capitol building to his Facebook account. Mileur also uploaded a video that the FBI says was taken from within the Capitol building to the shadowy Save Anchorage Facebook group.

A joint status report filed in Mileur's case last December states that the United States has produced a set of records that are "specific" to Mileur, which include more reports of investigation, social media, additional video evidence, and other materials. Unknown is what other social media or video evidence the Government has produced in Mileur's case or whether any of it has to do with Save Anchorage or anyone associated with the group.

Three members of the group were arrested in rapid succession in March 2021:

• Michael Whitmore was arrested on March 10 for the possession and distribution of child pornography
• Alleged U.S. Capitol Hill insurrectionist Aaron J. Mileur was arrested on March 15
• Jason Karpinski, a traveling massage therapist, was arrested on March 18 and subsequently indicted for sexual assault a month later.

At the time of Karpinski's arrest, Alaska Rep. Sara Rasmussen, herself a member of Save Anchorage, posted on Twitter that Karpinski had solicited massage services from her and that she was glad he was finally caught. It's unknown whether Karpinski connected with her because of their shared Save Anchorage membership, but rather incredibly, Karpinski has remained a member of the group for nearly a year since his arrest.

That three individuals criminally charged within nine days of one another shared Save Anchorage membership as a commonality is an interesting but unexplained and perhaps unrelated detail.

'Putting the 'Q' in Save AnQhorage'

The QAnon conspiracy theory is large, sophisticated, and ever-evolving, with supporters regularly incorporating new events and people into its narrative. The gist is that Democrats, with the help of Hollywood and a group of "global elites," are running a massive pedophile ring devoted to kidnapping, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse, and cannibalism of children. According to this illusion, Donald Trump is the only person willing and capable of stopping them.

The QAnon belief system includes antisemitic conspiracy theories concerning Jewish elites, globalists, and financiers, with George Soros and the Rothschilds being frequent targets. The inclusion of children in the plot dates back to medieval allegations of blood libel against Jews, says the American Jewish Committee.

According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, QAnon followers view themselves as part of an enlightened subgroup — they often implore outsiders to "do your own research" to stop being brainwashed by accepted narratives pushed by the media.

The conspiracy theory goes on to say that despite the deep state's best efforts, Trump was winning this nonexistent war and that "Q" was leaking information to the public to galvanize support ahead of "The Storm," a time when the deep state's leaders would be captured and taken to Guantanamo Bay. The process has been dubbed "The Great Awakening" or "Awakening" by QAnon believers.

At a 2020 truck rally supporting Donald Trump, then-candidate Dave Bronson noted that the deep state and the media were attacking Trump. Likewise, Anchorage Assemblyperson Jamie Allard's choice of "awake" and "awakening" in a comment made to Save Anchorage was calculated and should not go unnoticed.

Screenshots taken from alleged Capitol Hill insurrectionist and former Save Anchorage member Aaron Mileur's now-deleted Facebook account suggest that he was a follower of the dangerous QAnon conspiracy. QAnon has emerged as a recurring theme of criminal cases tied to January 6, and it appears Mileur is no exception to that trend.

In a lengthy February 9, 2021, post, Mileur asserted that former U.S. President Donald Trump, who had falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, had 17 flags at his farewell speech and that "17 is the number of Q" and that "many Q posts have been proven true."

Other QAnon dog whistles can be found in Mileur's Facebook post, such as that Trump had signed the Insurrection Act and that 'Q,' the online prophet feeding the QAnon conspiracy with cryptic online messages, was believed to be military intel.

A post made to Mileur's Facebook account the day after the January 6 insurrection states that Antifa was escorted into the U.S. Capitol Building for a photo op and had exited before the rest of the protesters had arrived on the scene.

"...[there] was a cop at the door when I arrived, but he wasn't stopping anybody," the post states.

Screenshots of a tweet containing false claims about coronavirus death statistics made by Mel Q, a follower of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, have also been shared in Save Anchorage. The tweet is one that former President Donald Trump shared from his now-deleted Twitter account.

Other individuals associated with Save Anchorage have displayed the QAnon logo on their Facebook profiles, while others have shared messages called "Q Drops" from the mysterious and elusive 'Q' himself. One such post references Q Drop "4577," and an image in the post depicts the names of "notable people" alleged to be associated with the flight manifest logs of Jeffrey Epstein. This kind of message fits well with the conspiracy theory's pedophilia, kidnapping, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse, and cannibalism narrative.

Another conspiracy theory whose roots derive from QAnon was shared with the group and 'warned' that the "Facebook & Internet" would soon blackout and encouraged others to "have 2 weeks of groceries on hand ?."

QAnon believers commonly tag their social media posts with the hashtag #WWG1WGA, signifying the motto "Where We Go One, We Go All." Some individuals associated with Save Anchorage have been known to use the same hashtag in their own social media posts.

War

Lengthy diatribes filled with far-right rhetoric have often played well with the group, as was the case with a post alleging America was now at war.

"We are at war. It's not a war as in times past. It is not an overt attack by planes or bombs or bullets. We are in a covert and subversive ideological war that could forever change any chance of freedom as we've grown to know it," began the post, which later explained that the intended goal of the war was to tear down America and rebuild it from the ground up "under the guise of a neo-Marxist, socialist utopia." The war, perpetrated by hypocrites and "DEPRAVED PSYCHOTIC CRIMINALS," would leave America a wasteland of politically correct "wokeness."

Responses to the post elicited primarily favorable comments from group members who called the post "right on" and stated that it was "quite a truth." A purported follower of the conspiracy theory responded directly to the post, concluding their comment with the statement: "The hammer will come [down] when they will least expect it."

Last September, members associated with the pro-Bronson group ramped up their rhetoric ahead of a series of Anchorage Assembly meetings, with some calling for civil war and another referring to Anchorage Assembly member Meg Zaletel as "an enemy combatant."

The Fading Turd

In the past, Save Anchorage's moderation team asserted that some troublesome and objectionable content had evaded moderation due to the sheer volume of content shared with the group. Yet, roughly 18 months later, much of that content still exists — unsurprising because a paltry five moderators are responsible for managing the content shared by the group's approximately 8,400 members.

The Save Anchorage collective is right about one thing — the city does indeed have a problem. Still, it's not one caused by the so-called 'radical socialist leftist' members of the Anchorage Assembly who, in the face of threats and hate, have stood firm against those tasked with doing the political bidding of an Assemblyperson and the Bronson Administration.

The problem, of course, lies with a far-right group, hidden in plain sight, whose members have compared Berkowitz to Hitler and threatened violence against city officials, shared dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric, and who, much like Aaron Mileur, saw many of their members celebrate the attempted insurrection at our nation's Capitol.

The polish has faded from the Save Anchorage turd, a group whose claims to fame are an Assemblyperson who defended Nazi terminology resulting in Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy throwing her off the Alaska Human Rights Commission, an alleged insurrectionist who the FBI says uploaded a video taken from within the Capitol to the group, and a mayor who defended his anti-mask supporters that had donned yellow Stars of David.

The group does win the award for being the only Alaska social media group listed in the Insurrection Index, so grats on that.

But fear, not residents, Must Read Alaska reassured all of Alaska almost a year ago that "QAnon is, in many respects, a fabrication of the news media surrogates of the Left."

It's a tough pill to swallow.