Friday, February 25, 2011
SPLC Report Lumps In We Are Change With Neo-Nazis, KKKSuggets that grassroots citizen journalist group has “driven people to murder”
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Thursday, Feb 24th, 2011
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a history of declaring any protest group it sees as “anti-government” as an “extremist” hate group, without justification. Today it continues that trend with the publication of yet another report that throws in We Are Change members nationwide with racist Neo Nazi groups and Ku Klux Klan factions.
The SPLC’s annual report, entitled “The Year in Hate & Extremism, 2010″, is being touted as material for mainstream media headlines such as “Anti-government extremist groups on rise in US: study”, and “Survey: more US hate groups than ever before”.
Of course, if you contend that everything, including peaceful protest and citizen journalism is “extremist”, then you are assured to find that “extremism” is most definitely on the rise.
The SPLC has once again included many state chapters of We Are Change in it’s report, despite protests last year designed to counter the “Defamatory Propaganda” put out by the SPLC.
The report separates its targets into “Hate Groups”, “Nativist Extremist Groups”, and “Patriot Groups”. Though We Are Change are listed under the latter, the implication in the overall report and the articles it has spawned are that they are all one and the same.
“…by far the most dramatic growth came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement — conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as their primary enemy — which gained more than 300 new groups, a jump of over 60%.” the report states.
Without presenting any empirical evidence whatsoever, the report states that the rise of groups such as We Are Change can be attributed “at least partly on the basis of furious rhetoric from the right aimed at the nation’s first black president — a man who has come to represent to at least some Americans ongoing changes in the racial makeup of the country.”
Alongside such libelous and offensive statements, the SPLC presents its annual “hate map”, complete with icons in the form of swastikas and white robes, to indicate the locations of Neo Nazis and virulently racist Klan groups.
The report also lists The Oath Keepers, a group it has regularly targeted, as well as other peaceful pro-Constitution groups.
The report even lists Austin’s Brave New Books store, which sells books and dvds on a wide range of subjects. Brave New Books stocks most of Alex Jones’ films as well as books such as ‘End The Fed’ by libertarian Congressman Ron Paul.
The SPLC contends that a “mainstreaming of conspiracy theories,” has contributed to a rise in “hate”.
Translation: the increased exposure of rampant government corruption and its blatant disregard for the American people has resulted in more social dissatisfaction and the growth of more political protest groups.
Though it is entirely possible that real extremist groups are growing in numbers, it is clearly grossly misleading to suggest that We Are Change, a peaceful citizen journalism activist group, is on a par with cross burning racists.
We Are Change is a true grass roots group that is populated by people of all races and nationalities, it is ludicrous and downright offensive to throw those people in with Neo-Nazi skinheads who worship Hitler.
All of this gets filtered down into the suggestions that extreme hate and racism is responsible for new illegal immigration laws, legislation challenging the authority of the privately owned Federal Reserve and a general unrest amongst the wider population.
“It’s hard to predict where this volatile situation will lead,” the report suggests.
“What seems certain is that President Obama will continue to serve as a lightning rod for many on the political right, a man who represents both the federal government and the fact that the racial make-up of the United States is changing, something that upsets a significant number of white Americans.”
“And that suggests that the polarized politics of this country could get worse before they get better.”
It is precisely this kind of fearmongering propaganda, if anything, that is causing greater anxiety and divisions in America today, not the work of groups like We Are Change, who take their very name from the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.
In response to criticism that the SPLC is broadly tarring every group it disagrees with with the same brush, the editor of the report, Mark Potok, told the Christian Science Monitor:
“We’re not in any way suggesting that these groups should be outlawed or free speech should be suppressed … but it’s a kind of calling out the liars, the demonizers, the propagandists,” says Mr. Potok. While the groups themselves may not advocate violence, he says, such speech has “driven people and will continue to drive people to murder.”
Of course, we should not expect anything different from the SPLC, which has always been heavy on smear and thin on actual facts.
Last year the group, published a “Patriot Hitlist”, linking mainline political activists and even members of Congress, such as Ron Paul, with violent extremist minority groups.
The piece labels Paul, along with Andrew Napolitano, Michele Bachmann and Glen Beck as anti-government patriot movement “enablers”. If anyone is an enabler of extremism it is the SPLC, as it continues to propagandize for the miniscule and completely irrelevant white supremacist movement in order to magnify the ludicrous threat it claims these fringe groups pose.
Other notables to make the hitlist were Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change, Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners For America, former Phoenix police officer Jack McLamb and former IRS special agent Joe Banister – a who’s who of regular guests on the Alex Jones show, who was also included on the list.
Alex is quoted in the piece as saying “The entire planet is being enslaved by global, dominant corporations.” If that’s the classification of what an radical extremist believes then the SPLC better prepare to compile a much larger list.
The SPLC are always desperate to throw in their mainstream political opponents with killers and mass murderers, no matter how ludicrous the notion. In 2009, the group attempted to link Infowars and Alex Jones with Pittsburgh cop killer Richard Poplawski because Poplawski had left comments on Jones’ websites. Cursory inspection of the comments revealed that Poplawski was attacking Jones, however that did not stop the SPLC ‘s ridiculous smear attempt extending to elements of the media that later had to issue retractions. What made the entire issue even more ludicrous was the fact that comments left on the SPLC’s own website four months previously had called for Alex Jones to be executed for his political views.
The SLPC makes millions every year off the back of attacking libertarians and conservatives and anyone else who doesn’t share their own myopic political outlook.
It has a nasty habit of labeling “extremist” and “radical” any group or person that it merely disagrees with, lumping them in with white supremacists and right wing militias, all the while preaching that it is committed to “Fighting Hate, Teaching Tolerance, Seeking Justice”.
Perusing their website and published materials for just a short time will lead any rational and discerning person to identify the SPLC for what it is – an über leftist outfit of control freaks with an axe to grind. However, the U.S. government, under both Republican and Democratic administrations – and by proxy the corporate mainstream media – has chosen to elevate the SPLC to the level of revered research group.
Most infamously, the SPLC was cited as a primary research source in the highly inflammatory Missouri Information Analysis Center report, a federally funded “fusion center” document that equated Ron Paul supporters, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag with radical race hate groups and terrorists.
Along with the ADL, another group that just loves to compile lists of political enemies, the SPLC was also a prominent source for the leaked Department of Homeland Security “Rightwing Extremism” report. The sources for the document, which equated veterans and gun owners with violent terrorists, were revealed following a freedom of information act request from the group Americans for Limited Government. Along with the SPLC and the ADL, other sources included a number of news articles, some of which also cited the SPLC, and a scattering of web posts from highly dubious sources. No statistical analysis was found to have been undertaken by the DHS – they just took the opinions of the SPLC and threw in a few internet posts as an afterthought.
The disgusting irony of the whole sorry affair came with the fact that the SPLC immediately jumped on the DHS report when it was leaked, using it to justify their own materials and agendas, in a twisted ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ scenario.
In the months that followed, the SPLC returned to the report again and again to tie it in with incidents such as the tragic shooting at the Holocaust museum in Washington DC.
The SPLC has continued its sustained effort, with the establishment media in tow, to float the talking point that worried gun owners are growing in the United States and that this could portend a violent act of domestic terror.
While the SPLC claims to rail against hate, it continues to mirror the actions of the most hateful regimes in the history of the human race by compiling endless lists of “enemies of the state”.
Perhaps the most famous illustration can be derived from an evening dubbed “The Night Of The Long Knives” when in June 1934 Hitler took out his political enemies, based on a prepared list drawn up by Goering and Himmler, later known as the Reich List of Unwanted Persons.
Hitler’s list of enemies then extended beyond political grievances. Suffice to say, political enemies lists have somewhat of a bad rap. But I guess what’s good for Hitler is good for the SPLC.
Labels: Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Libs, SPLC in Tizzy Over Montana Plan for State MilitiaKurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
February 8, 2011
The folks over at Think Soros, otherwise known as Think Progress, are freaking out over a plan in Montana to establish a state militia.
“In a nod to extremism, Montana state Rep. Wendy Warburton (R) is introducing a bill to bring the militia movement into the mainstream by creating what she dubs ‘home guards’ to provide services in case major emergencies,” writes Tanya Somanader.
Think Soros and the SPLC insist this is part of a frightening rightwing trend. According to the Montana Human Rights Network’s Jamee Greer, Montana’s state militia will be like a magnet for all sorts of nefarious and scary anti-government types.
But what really sticks in their craw is the lack of federal oversight. “The ‘home guard’ would not be subject to federal oversight and a company would only be recognized if certified by the governor,” reports the Billings Gazette.
Danger Will Robinson! Locals can’t be trusted not to operate outside of the purview of bureaucrats in the district of criminals, especially if the home guards will be used to defend states’ rights against federal intrusion.
Labels: militia, Montana, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Sunday, January 9, 2011
SPLC's Potok Refers To David Icke As A Right Winger & Links Him To Giffords's Shooting
Saturday, October 9, 2010
SPLC, DHS, Community Officials Team Up to Attack Patriot Groups Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 8, 2010
Stewart Rhodes writes today on the Oath Keepers website that the Southern Poverty Law Center is now officially part of the Department of Homeland Security. Rhodes sources a DHS document, entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Working Group,” that lists Richard Cohen as a member of the DHS created group. Cohen is president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition to Cohen, a number of law enforcement officials are members of the DHS group, including Austin Chief of Police Art Acevedo.
“What does the working group do? Make recommendations on training and how to use all of the local resources — police, social services, media, NGO’s, you name it – to fight ‘extremism.’ So, now no need to file a FOIA request to discover that SPLC is writing the reports naming constitutionalists as possible terrorists. Now it is in your face and the mask is off,” writes Rhodes.
The document encourages local “partners” and the feds to work together to share “threat-related information… and develop case studies that can be used by local authorities as a learning tool for law enforcement personnel” in order to prevent “ideologically-motivated violent crime (radicalization, violent extremism, etc.),” in short the patriot movement.
In early April of 2009, a document produced by the Department of Homeland Security, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” characterized patriot political groups that reject “federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or [reject] government authority entirely” as domestic terrorists.
The DHS report followed similar reports issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center and the Virginia Fusion Center. The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.
According to the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, the MIAC documents were heavily influenced by “faulty and politicized research issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Anti Defamation League (ADL).” In 2008, law enforcement officers from across Missouri gathered in the town of Arnold to hear from ADL experts on right-wing extremism.
The SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League work hand-in-hand with the Department of Homeland Security to demonize patriot and constitutionalist organizations,” we wrote on April 10, 2010, after the government attempted to frame the Hutaree in Michigan. “SPLC’s Mark Potok appears on corporate media networks almost daily peddling his organization’s hysterical rantings and fairy tales about impending violence and mayhem that will be perpetuated by patriot groups and individuals.”
In 2009, DHS boss Janet Napolitano showered kudos on the ADL during a conference held on April 22 of that year. “In recent years, the Department has placed our employees in your advanced training school to educate us on the tactics used by extremists and terrorists,” Napolitano said.
The ADL is currently involved in brainwashing children in the Austin, Texas, school system under the guise of preventing cyberbullying and guarding against so-called hate speech. “The ADL said schools have a duty to protect students and exercise precautions against cyberbullying that happens on campus through policies, supervision, reporting processes and education,” reports KXAN. “Through the years, the League has been a leading provider of anti-bias education and diversity training programs that help create and sustain inclusive home, school, community and work environments,” the ADL website states.
Both the ADL and the SPLC have manufactured a cottage industry around the bogus threat of the “modern militia movement” and specialize in going after key individuals and leaders of the constitutionalist, Libertarian, and patriot movements.
Alex Jones is a favored target of the ADL-SPLC propaganda and demonization project. A Google search of the ADL website produces dozens of references to the radio talk show host, most related to the Pittsburgh cop killer and admitted white supremacist Richard Poplawski. Poplawski posted comments on the Infowars website.
Other ADL targets include the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, who are according to the ADL “both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted. The two groups are apparently trying to make inroads in the U.S. military,” a distortion that plays right into the DHS “rightwing extremism” document that claims returning veterans pose a violent threat.
In 2009, DHS boss boss Janet Napolitano showered kudos on the ADL during a conference held on April 22, 2009. “In recent years, the Department has placed our employees in your advanced training school to educate us on the tactics used by extremists and terrorists,” Napolitano admitted.
The vicious campaign against the Oath Keepers escalated earlier this week when the CPS in New Hampshire kidnapped the newborn baby of John Irish and Stephanie Janvrin. Authorities said the child was taken in part due to Irish’s association with the patriot group the Oath Keepers. “The Division became aware and confirmed that Mr. Irish associated with a militia known as the Oath Keepers,” confirming the fact that Irish’s political beliefs were the primary reason the child was snatched.
As Stewart Rhodes notes on the Oath Keepers website, the DHS spawned working group details how they plan to utilize local social welfare and mental health agencies to counter “violent extremism” as defined by the government, the SPLC, and the ADL, thus revealing that Irish and Janvrin’s newborn was kidnapped as part of an effort to criminally harass and punish members of the patriot community.
Labels: Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Kurt Nimmo, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Dear Southern Poverty Law Center and Department of JusticeSally O'Boyle
Activist PostRe: SPLC list of "
Active Patriot Groups" and DOJ's "
Criminal Extremist List"
I am wondering if you will start a Patriot Persons list to go along with your Patriot Groups list? If so, I'd like to apply. If your criteria* is the same for People as for Groups, I might be a pretty good fit!
I am definitely against any "New World Order" or "One World Government" scheme. The U.S. must remain a sovereign nation as outlined in our Constitution. (Besides, and I don't mean to be catty here, but the idea doesn't seem to be working out so bloody well for the EU.) Do you know if there is an active attempt by the U.S. government to join into a world government? If so, please let me know! I'd like to sign and circulate a petition against that.
I don't engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing; all the conspiracies about which I theorize have grounds. Do you think you could make an exception? And which conspiracies are the groundless ones? A list somewhere on your site would be helpful.
Also, how do you define "extreme anti-government doctrines", please? Can you give any examples? I am personally extremely pro-Constitutional governance, something which has been in short supply during the last few administrations, including the current one. I would only be anti-government about a government that was extremely anti-U.S. Constitution. Will this count for or against me?
I am glad to see
Oath-Keepers made the list of Patriot Groups! I am a member of Oath-Keepers. They are educating military and law-enforcement personnel about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, encouraging them to keep their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Thank goodness! Since the Constitution is no longer adequately taught in our schools (having just educated two teenagers, I can attest to that fact), I am thrilled to see that someone has taken on this monumental task!
Could you let me know if I make the list? You can find me at
Campaign for Liberty or at
Liberty-Candidates.org.I hope I'm not asking too much, but maybe you could give a plaque or something? Or how about a pin that we could wear all the time identifying us as Patriots who made your list? Then we could easily spot each other. That would be way cool. Thanks!
God bless,
Sally O'Boyle
P.S. Thanks for printing that list of Patriot Groups broken out by state. Now I can find friends no matter where I am. Kind of like an A.A. meeting list! Now, I'm thinking I should join a militia. Don't mean to be greedy, but would I get extra points for that?
*Criteria: "Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the "New World Order," engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines." (
http://tinyurl.com/patriotgroups)
Labels: Department of Justice, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The truth behind America's 'civilian militias'Armed and extremely... patriotic. Why a growing number of Americans are preparing for a war against their government. In heavy camouflage gear, Johnny Cochran squats down and shuffles noiselessly along the ground. His target is a large man who, like Cochran, is in military fatigues. Seconds later, Cochran leaps up and stabs the man once, hard, in the neck. The movement is swift, and would almost certainly be lethal, were it not for the fact that the ‘weapon’ Cochran is wielding is a pen.
The scenario I have just witnessed may be simulated, but its protagonists are deadly serious. This is a ‘close combat training’ session given by ‘Fireteam Diamondback’ – an armed militia group, or civilian ‘army’, based in west Texas, in the United States. Cochran, a chain-smoking 39 year-old with a handlebar moustache and goatee whose T-shirt reads: ‘Disgruntled Combat Vet – Right Wing Extremist’, is their leader. Biro-wielding or not, he’s not someone you would wish to encounter in combat.
‘Straight into the base of his skull,’ he says, after pretending to plunge the pen into the neck of Steven Page, a member of another militia group who has joined the training. ‘That’s the nerve centre. Then you push forward. If you’re dealing with someone short, that works like a charm, but if you’re dealing with someone tall, grab his face, insert the knife and when you shove that knife forwards, pull him towards you.’
Cochran smiles. ‘You’re going to make a hell of a mess, but human flesh tears easily. Bone is a pain in the a--.’ He knows what he’s talking about, having served four years as a combat medic with the US Marines during Operation Desert Storm. His ‘handle’, or nickname, in the militia is ‘Doc’. And yet, as he freely admits, the hypothetical enemy – the target he’s teaching the people gathered here today to kill – is a US soldier.
Why? Cochran says he is simply exercising his constitutional right to assemble an armed civilian force that is prepared to fight any enemy, be they domestic or foreign. There are 27 men in Cochran’s squad including, apparently, both former and serving soldiers, policemen and members of the sheriff’s department.
This didn’t surprise me. I’d already read about Richard Mack, a former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, who now travels the country ‘crusading for freedom and individual rights’ and insists ‘the greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our own federal government’.
The militias, which are dotted throughout the US and, according to recent figures, are growing rapidly in numbers, claim they are bulwarks against tyranny. The US Department of Homeland Security takes a dimmer view, warning of a ‘rise in Right-wing anti-government extremist activity’ as far back as April 2009 and a ‘phenomenon of violent radicalisation’.
Indeed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), which tracks extremist groups, the US has seen a dramatic spike in attempted domestic terrorism ever since Barack Obama started his campaign for office, including: two skinhead plots to assassinate him; a plan to set off a dirty bomb packed with radioactive materials during the inauguration; and a lone assassin, Keith Luke, who began murdering black people in Massachusetts...
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Full Article]
[Webmaster - Interesting article but extremely biased. Anyone that would use that lying weasel, Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty LIE Center, as an reference is desperate to make this a blatant hit piece on the militias with the goal of trying to portray their members as "extremist conspiracy nuts". Take this article with a grain of salt and recognize it for what it is...left-wing globalist propaganda.] Labels: Mark Potok, militia, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, Texas
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Claims Police Shooting Suspects Had Extremist 'Anti-Government' Links(CNN) -- Two suspects accused of gunning down Arkansas police officers this week may have ties to extremist anti-government groups, two civil rights organizations say.
Jerry R. Kane, 45, and his 16-year-old son Joseph Kane fatally shot two police officers and wounded two others during a wild shootout Thursday, according to Arkansas state police.
The father and son were shot and killed during the battle on the streets of West Memphis, Arkansas.
The Anti-Defamation League said the two suspects belonged to "an extreme right-wing movement that believes that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and which seeks to restore an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization, also said the two member are part of the "sovereign citizen" movement.
"If Jerry Kane is proven responsible for these tragic murders, it would be a new page in the same old book for the sovereign citizens, who have assaulted or killed a number of law enforcement officials in the past 20 years, especially during traffic stops," the ADL said in a statement...
[Full Article]
Labels: ADL, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Sunday, May 2, 2010
SPLC, ADL SMEAR PATRIOTS  By Mark Anderson Did you know that informing Americans about the often bitter truth about their nation and the world constitutes “hate”? Neither did we. But the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center sees itself fit to list 512 American patriot groups in a special issue of its quarterly Intelligence Report and characterize them as “hate” groups—even while admitting, “[The] listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist,” as the report states.
If these groups are not criminally inclined, then what’s the problem? The problem from the SPLC’s viewpoint is that many of these groups, whatever their imperfections, communicate pertinent information to a population that is increasingly indifferent to, or distrustful of, big media, misplaced or abused government authority and the rogue corporate structure.
Of course, not every group that made “the list” is always accurate in its views, nor does freedom of speech mean you must be accurate, nor does it exclude those who may say stupid things. It’s not illegal to be eccentric, nor is it against the law to be angry or upset at what’s going on. Most people are. Deal with it.
Corporate structure has colluded with government to impoverish the average person and bail out corporate titans to the tune of billions. Everybody knows this, except, it seems, the SPLC, which wants to tell Americans and law enforcement officials to distrust these citizen groups while those in the corporate world rob our nation and close down our industry.
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If calling attention to corporate-government actions that threaten the future of every man, woman and child is “hate,” then some groups listed by the SPLC stand “guilty as charged.”
But observe that usually those who shout “hate” the loudest are themselves the “haters,” for lack of a better word. It’s the world’s oldest trick: Accuse others of what you are guilty of, as a ploy to smear your perceived
opponents. The SPLC seems adept at this. Good people in conservative groups are lumped in with obscure elements and lesser-known groups who would disagree with each other on many issues. But the SPLC makes it seem like they agree on most things, to broaden the smear.
Yet, it’s not as if the SPLC is particularly important or credible. This whole thing has become a tiresome perennial exercise for the leftist SPLC, which sees anyone to the political “right” of its positions as “extremist”—another abused buzzword used to confuse the population. It’s all a matter of perspective. If you are in a group as ultra-left wing as the SPLC, almost everyone else is automatically to the right of you. Then it becomes a question only of who to put on “the list.”
Meanwhile, the SPLC speaks of illegal immigrants as if breaking U.S. immigration laws is unimportant. In other words, it’s OK to enter the nation illegally, but it’s not OK to protest it. Overall, the SPLC’s work borders on slander and libel.
The biggest problem, however, is that the SPLC has the ear of the Department of Homeland Security, among other government agencies that troll for signs of “domestic terrorism” and may equate these American “extremist” groups with potential terrorism without justification.
Most Americans are a mixture of “right” and “left” views, if such labels must be used, and most people actually have much more in common than is usually assumed. For example, except for a minority of neoconservatives running our foreign policy (a breed of alleged conservatives who lust for empire and conquest), a sizable cross section of both liberals and traditional, constitutional conservatives want to stop fighting perpetual wars.
AFP reminds Americans that there are about 800 U.S. military bases in at least 120 nations and that our interventionist foreign policy is bankrupting our nation, maiming and killing our own soldiers who are not given winnable missions, and bringing untold agony and death on innocent foreign people. Is it hateful to report that?
And excuse us for noting that Israel does not need nor deserve exclusive U.S. protection and foreign aid. The Israeli army’s slaughter of largely defenseless Palestinians in late 2008 showed the whole world what that rogue nation is all about.
Thus, hardly more need be said, except to say that just as Germany and other European nations can and should defend themselves without American taxpayers holding their hands, the same goes for Israel, which is perfectly capable, with some 200-400 nuclear weapons, of defending itself. This is not “anti-Semitism.”
SPLC’s Intelligence Report includes this general description: “Of these groups, 127 were militias . . . and the remainder includes ‘common-law’ courts, publishers, ministries and citizen groups. Generally, patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the ‘New World Order,’ engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme anti-government doctrines.”
The actual listing consists of John Birch Society, Oath Keepers, Constitution Party, American Independent Party and various other patriot-citizen groups and chapters in all 50 states. None gives any indication of being dangerous. There also is a Texas-based group to end the Federal Reserve’s private central banking racket, which is tough to define as “hate.” And Gary Franchi’s principled Restore the Republic in Illinois is listed, when this writer can personally attest to Franchi’s honesty and passion to report the truth and make America a better place.
Other, more obscure, groups are listed, too, whose status and intentions are unknown. Yet, they all have a right to their opinions and to engage in the political reform process.
Unless engaged in actual, provable crime, any person or group can say anything they want in the United States. May it always remain that way, regardless of attempts by some to reclassify free speech as hate speech and label concerned Americans as “enemies of the state.”
Mark Anderson is a longtime newsman now working as a deputy editor for AFP. He and his wife Angie provide photographs and video of the events they cover for AFP. Listen to Mark’s radio show at republicbroadcasting.org, Saturdays at 2. Email him at at truthhound2@yahoo.com. Subscribe to American Free Press. Online subscriptions: One year of weekly editions—$15 plus you get a BONUS ELECTRONIC BOOK - HIGH PRIESTS OF WAR - By Michael Piper.
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Labels: ADL, American Free Press, Mark Anderson, SPLC
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Creating Lists Of Political Dissidents: Good Enough For The Nazis, Good Enough For The SPLC
Hitlist links mainline political activists with violent extremist minority groups Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
With the publication of a “Patriot Hitlist”, the Southern Poverty Law Center has once again proven itself to be anything but a “civil rights” organisation, as it continues to act in its role as an intolerant and belligerent slander outfit, almost exclusively targeting legitimate, peaceful, grassroots political and social dissent.
The SLPC makes millions every year off the back of attacking libertarians and conservatives and anyone in between who doesn’t share their own myopic political outlook.
It has a nasty habit of labeling “extremist” and “radical” any group or person that it merely disagrees with, lumping them in with white supremacists and right wing militias, all the while preaching that it is committed to “Fighting Hate, Teaching Tolerance, Seeking Justice”.
Perusing their website and published materials for just a short time will lead any rational and discerning person to identify the SPLC for what it is – an über leftist outfit of control freaks with an axe to grind. However, the U.S. government, under both Republican and Democratic administrations – and by proxy the corporate mainstream media – has chosen to elevate the SPLC to the level of revered research group...
Labels: Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Southern Poverty Law Center Publishes Patriot Hit ListBy Chuck Baldwin
April 21, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
In a report on its web site dated April 2010, entitled "Meet The Patriots," the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) profiled "36 individuals at the heart of the resurgent [patriot] movement." (In reading the list, I counted only 35 "patriots" and 5 "enablers" for a total of 40. I'm not really sure how the SPLC came up with "36." Perhaps their ability to count is commensurate with their ability to appreciate patriotism and liberty.) The SPLC (founded by Morris Dees) sees itself as America's guardian against "right wing militias" and loves to label conservatives and libertarians that it doesn't like as "extremists." The SPLC is one of the most ultra-liberal organizations in the country and should be dismissed as a group of paranoid leftists, not worthy of thought or mention.
The sad truth is, however, our federal government has chosen to exalt the SPLC to the position of being its "go to" source for information regarding "potential domestic terrorists" and similar characterizations. As a result, the information and reports disseminated by SPLC wind up in police reports and bulletins all over the United States. As an example, the SPLC had its fingerprints all over the infamous MIAC report. One could even question whether the SPLC is merely a front organization for Big Brother.
Therefore, it is highly likely that the report negatively profiling 40 American patriots will find its way into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fusion centers and be distributed to police agencies all across the country. So, should the 40 people who find themselves targeted by SPLC expect some kind of government/police attention? Are we really that close to Nazi-style persecution in America? If the SPLC has its way, the answer seems to be a definite yes.
I remind readers that in the book, Nazi Justiz: Law of the Holocaust (page 3), there were five steps to Hitler's plans for the destruction of European Jews. Step 1: Identification/registration of the targeted group as a public menace. Step 2: Ostracism of the targeted persons. Step 3: property confiscation. Step 4: Concentration of members into geographical locations. Step 5: Annihilation. In this latest report, SPLC seems quite willing to accomplish steps 1 and 2.
Here are the 40 names that are targeted in the SPLC report (and guess who is listed at the very top? Yours truly):
1. Chuck Baldwin, Pastor, Radio Broadcaster, Syndicated Columnist, 2008 Constitution Party Presidential nominee.
2. Joe Banister, former IRS special agent, tax protester.
3. Martin "Red" Beckman, tax protester
4. Catherine Bleish, head of the Liberty Restoration Project.
5. Chris Broughton, Second Amendment advocate, member of "We The People" group.
6. Bob Campbell, head of American Grand Jury.
7. Robert Crooks, Army veteran, retired commercial fisherman, anti-illegal immigration proponent.
8. Joseph Farah, CEO of World Net Daily
9. Gary Franchi, producer of "Camp FEMA: American Lockdown," national director of RestoreTheRepublic.com.
10. Al Garza, head of the Patriot's Coalition, an anti-illegal immigration group.
11. Ted Gunderson, retired FBI agent.
12. John Hassey, "The public face of Alabama's militia movement in the late 1990s," says SPLC.
13. Alex Jones, Radio Talk Show host.
14. Devvy Kidd, "prolific columnist, blogger, and public speaker."
15. Larry Kilgore, telecommunications consultant, former US Senate candidate from Texas, pro-secession advocate.
16. Cliff Kincaid, syndicated columnist and author, editor of AIM Report (Accuracy in Media's publication), founder and president of America's Survival, Inc., a UN watchdog group.
17. Mark Koernke, associated with the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
18. Richard Mack, former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff, author, and public speaker.
19. Jack McLamb, former Phoenix, Arizona, police officer, author, and public speaker.
20. John McManus, former member of the US Marine Corps, president of the John Birch Society.
21. Daniel New, father of Michael New (the Army medic who refused to wear a UN uniform), author, public speaker.
22. Norm Olson, founder of the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
23. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America.
24. Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, founder of Oath Keepers.
25. Jon Roland, computer specialist, founder of the Constitution Society.
26. Luke Rudkowski, founder We Are Change.
27. Robert "Bob" Schultz, founder of We The People.
28. Joel Skousen, editor, World Affairs Brief.
29. Jim Stachowiak, Radio Talk Show host, "Longtime militia organizer," claims SPLC.
30. John Stadtmiller, founder, Republic Broadcasting Network.
31. Orly Taitz, California attorney, a leader in the push to make President Obama disclose his US birth certificate.
32. Amanda Teegarden, executive director of Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise.
33. Mike Vanderboegh, anti-Obama health care activist.
34. Paul Venable, former candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives.
35. Edwin Vieira, Jr., attorney, author, proponent of constitutional State militias, lecturer.
36. Michele Bachmann, US Representative from Minnesota.
37. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel TV host.
38. Paul Broun, medical doctor, US Representative from Georgia.
39. Andrew Napolitano, attorney, former State judge in New Jersey, Fox News Channel legal analyist, lecturer.
40. Ron Paul, former member of the US Air Force, medical doctor, US Representative from Texas, 2008 Republican candidate for President.
See the SPLC report here...
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Southern Poverty Law Center "Meet the Patriots" Hit List
Labels: Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Cops Link White Supremacists To Bombs In California...There is ample evidence that many if not most white supremacist groups are directed by the FBI and the government. During the trial of white supremacist
Hal Turner, it was revealed that he worked closely with the FBI as an agent provocateur.
In addition, the SPLC has been linked to white supremacist groups. In 2004, a declassified FBI memo obtained by an Oklahoma newspaper revealed that the SPLC had operatives inside the Identity settlement in Elohim City, Oklahoma.
The California raids are a significant development and will likely be exploited by the government and the SPLC to bolster their fallacious argument that patriot groups are racist and violent.
Labels: California, FBI, raids, SPLC, white supremacist
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Ex-Members Of U.S. Military Were Members Of Hutaree Militia Extremist Group Federal investigators have discovered that two members of the extremist Michigan-based Hutaree militia group charged with plotting to assassinate law-enforcement officers are former U.S. military servicemen, including a Marine Corps corporal who was a Persian Gulf War veteran and decorated expert rifleman.
Among those charged in the Hutaree case and accused of "seditious" conspiracy to wage war is Michael David Meeks. An FBI official told NEWSWEEK that Meeks is a former Marine. Marine Corps records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show Meeks served in the Marines between 1988 and 1992 and was a rifle expert based at Camp Pendleton. The records show he received, among other decorations, a Kuwait Liberation Medal that was awarded to veterans of the Persian Gulf War.
His lawyer did not return a request for comment.
Another Hutaree member charged in the case was Kristopher Tyler Sickles, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 2007 and was discharged in October of that year after being absent without leave, according to Army records. His lawyer also did not return a call seeking comment. Sickles was identified as the creator of a violent video mimicking jihadist beheadings that was on YouTube but has been removed.
The particular concern raised by military members among extremist groups is that former service members, including disgruntled veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, may be helping to train extremists in firearms and military tactics, according to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. In the Hutaree case, the federal indictment charges that, as part of their plans to spark an "uprising" against the U.S. government, group members engaged "in military-style training" that included "firearms and explosives training, weapons proficiency drills, patrolling and reconnaissance exercises, close quarter battle drills" as well as "preparing defensive fighting positions" and "ambush kill zones."...
Labels: Hutaree, Kristopher Sickles, Michael David Meeks, militia, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Divorce Papers Of SPLC Founder, Morris Dees
Morris Dees, founder of the “Southern Poverty Law Center” is a step child molester, liar, blackmailer, wife-beater, sexual pervert, conman, fraud and scam artist -- according to his ex-wife and work colleagues.
Here are the divorce papers (download the original PDF here), submitted by his ex-wife Maureene during their public court battle (of course, the obligatory legal qualifier: these are her allegations, not mine. But that sort of nicety has never stopped the SPLC from publishing details about other people, has it?).
Morris Dees' Divorce Papers
Labels: Morris Dees, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Anderson Cooper / Southern Poverty Law Center Step-Up Propaganda Against The American PeopleMark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center was asked to join yet another on-air discussion this week, this time with CNN, which continues the sound the panic alarm against informed Americans the same way the mainstream media did against Islamic people after 9/11.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an organization that superficially fronts as an “anti-hate organization” to win public support then uses that support, and peoples’ trust in its mission, to socially isolate groups and organizations that protest various federal government policies and lump them together with a few lone extremists. Earlier this year, in a report it released, the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled We Are Change a militia group without offering any basis for doing so. We Are Change has never done anything militant and has always preached peace. Its members include people of all races...
Labels: CNN, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Anti-Hate Group Finds Yet Another Group It Hates The Southern Poverty Law Center (or as I like to call it, ADL South), has published a post on yet another group of people it hates (because it doesn’t fit into the SPLC’s socialist view of the world): FEMA conspiracy theorists. Of course, SPLC’s “expert” sources for the condemnation of the theorists are the highly-esteemed scholarly journals Popular Mechanics and Newsweek, CNN’s “American Morning” show, and (drum roll, please) the latest Establishment pseudo-Libertarian shill Glenn Beck. Well, if those New World Order/One World Government media puppets say that there is no truth to the government building FEMA detention camps for political prisoners, that cinches it for me. That’ll show those conspiracy nuts. Or does it?
It seems that a rogue Establishment public broadcast station, KBDI Colorado Public Television, had the temerity to air a documentary called Camp FEMA: American Lockdown three times. The film explores the possibility that the government is building FEMA detention camps for political prisoners. This has ruffled the fascist feathers of the SPLC. The SPLC post also disparages the late Libertarian Aaron Russo’s documentary on the secret history of the Fed that KBDI aired alongside the FEMA documentary. The SPLC proclaims that Russo’s documentary was “debunked” by the “Federal” Reserve Banksters’ own personal mouthpiece, The New York Times. (That’ll show those conspiracy nuts again.) And, of course, where would any post on “hate” groups be without it throwing in the anti-hate warning du jour that some groups are anti-Jewish. Yep, it’s in this SPLC post also. Phew! Now we can all sleep better.
[Thanks to Chris Ciancio]
Labels: Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Southern Poverty Law Center Takes Aim At Camp FEMA & OthersIs the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) running damage control for the Federal government?
In Popular Mechanics denial fashion, its Spring 2010 newsletter and newest article are all but rejecting the widespread evidence about FEMA camps and they are taking potshots at a new documentary that includes information about FEMA.
Considering the plummeting approval rating of the new President and Congress, the government must be feeling the pressure of anxiety among US citizens, especially with the outright anger caused by last year’s “leak” of the now-infamous MIAC (Missouri Information Analysis Center) report, the CNN attack piece on the Oath Keepers, and the fall 2009 release of the new film
Camp FEMA, it seems likely that damage control is exactly what is going on.
After reading the recent rhetoric by SPLC, I think one has to ask, “What is an organization that is ‘dedicated to fighting civil rights and bigotry’ doing suppressing information about the interning of US citizens and FEMA’s roll?”
After all, “FEMA camps,” as they are endearingly referred to by many, are for relocating US citizens from their homes in cases of Government-declared national emergency.
Shouldn’t the “civil rights” group be advocating the rights of free US citizens to STAY in their homes, if they so chose?
Also, how does the film,
Camp FEMA, figure as a hate or bigotry-filled film?
For that matter, how does the position of the Oath Keepers and Restore the Republic fall into that category?
...Labels: Camp FEMA, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Friday, March 5, 2010
Southern Poverty Law Center Bunches In "We Are Change" With "Hate" GroupsThis list of Active Patriot groups is an appendix to the SPLC and ADLs list of active Hate groups. Patriot and constitutionalist groups (Constitution party, John Birch Society, InfoWars, GCNLive, AmericanFreePress, Militias etc and now WeAreChange)are being listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League as non racist "hate" groups, along side the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis!
It is not so surprising that WeAreChange has been added to the updated list of Active Patriot Groups in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s special issue of their magazine “Intelligence Report”. I say this because last year’s list of active patriot groups, which was an appendix to the list of active “hate groups,” included WeAreChange allies and affiliates like InfoWars, GCN Live, John Birch Society, Constitution Party, AFP, militias, and other patriot-constitutionalist organizations. The special report also contains a “hate group” map, where patriot groups are shown alongside the KKK and neo-Nazis...
Labels: ADL, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Southern Poverty Lie Center Fearmongering About "Extremist" Patriots
Number Of US Extremists Groups 'Exploded' In 2009: ReportExtremist groups surged in the United States in 2009, with anti-government "Patriot" militias leading the way, says a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation," says the report written by Mark Potok...
Fearmongering At The SPLC
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which would paint a box of Wheaties as an extremist threat if it thought that would help it raise funds, has issued a new "intelligence report" announcing that "an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) -- a 244% jump." To illustrate how dangerous these groups are, the Center cites some recent arrests of right-wing figures for planning or carrying out violent attacks. But it doesn't demonstrate that any of the arrestees were a part of the Patriot milieu, and indeed it includes some cases involving racist skinheads, who are another movement entirely...
SPLC Report: Heavy On Smear, Thin On Facts
Conditioning For Terror Attack To Be Blamed On “Right Wing Extremists” Reaches Fever Pitch
The preparatory conditioning for a domestic false flag terror attack to be blamed on “right-wing extremists” has reached fever pitch, with the Southern Poverty Law Center issuing yet another lurid report which smears their mainstream political opposition as violent extremists.
“The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation,” states the SPLC report, which goes on to mention the OKC bombing and warns that there are, “Signs of similar violence emanating from the radical right.”
The only examples of such violence include a vague reference to the murder of six law enforcement officers, which presumably includes the Richard Poplawski incident, an event that arose not as a result of Poplawski’s political bent, but because of a domestic dispute with his mother...
Labels: extremists, militia, patriots, SPLC
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