CityLab Daily: Is Far-Right Political Violence Getting Worse?
Also today: Why jaywalking laws should be eliminated, and cities sue the Trump administration over federal officers in Portland.
Far-right protesters clash with a counterprotester during a rally in Salem, Oregon, in September.
Terrorism watch: The thwarted plots by militia groups to kidnap the Michigan and Virginia governors are the latest revelation of anti-government extremism in the U.S., but they're unlikely to be the last. In fact, "the violence will be getting worse," one expert tells Laura Bliss and Marie Patino.
Scholar Alexander Reid Ross has been tracking and mapping incidents of vigilantism by groups he describes as right-wing protesters, counter-protesters, militias and vigilantes. So far, he's recorded nearly 800 such incidents since the police killing of George Floyd in May, more than half of which were considered extreme enough to go beyond harassment and intimidation. They involve things like car attacks, brandishing guns and shootings. And while Ross expects the number of incidents to decline over the next few weeks — as they have been since June — he also warns that they could become more violent in the days leading up to the election. Today on CityLab: Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence