"They Fit In Just Fine...They Are Decent People

Hearing postponed for blogger accused of threats


NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A power failure has postponed a bail hearing for a New Jersey blogger charged with threatening three federal judges in Chicago.

Harold "Hal" Turner was to have appeared in federal court Tuesday. But that was canceled after a blown transformer cut power to parts of downtown Newark.

A new date has not been set.

The northern New Jersey resident was denied bail last week after he was arrested and charged with threatening to assault or murder the judges because they refused to overturn handgun bans.

Prosecutors say Turner wrote that the judges "deserve to be killed" and provided a map showing the Chicago courthouse where they work.

In a separate case, Turner has been charged with encouraging violence against two Connecticut lawmakers over controversial legislation.

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Tracing Xenophobic Internet Chatter to Its Roots in New Jersey Town
Jessica Hill/Associated Press

TO ORIGINAL SOURCE

LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalinkBy KAREEM FAHIM and NATE SCHWEBER
Published: June 30, 2009
The words of Hal Turner, incendiary and provincial as they might seem, have echoed far beyond the small Internet radio studio in his home in North Bergen, N.J., where, until his arrest last week, a neighbor knew him to be cordial if frequently confrontational.

Once an aspiring politician, Mr. Turner has become a controversial blogger and Internet radio host who has attracted attention from civil rights monitoring groups for his anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic pronouncements, and from authorities in Connecticut, where he was charged earlier this month with inciting violence against state lawmakers.

In April, Mr. Turner was suspected of playing a role in briefly driving down bank stocks after he claimed to have been leaked the results of bank stress tests conducted by the Treasury Department.

Last week, Mr. Turner achieved a new level of notoriety after federal authorities charged him with threatening in blog posts to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges.

“These judges deserve to be killed,” Mr. Turner wrote on his Web site, turnerradionetwork.com, which has since been taken down. “Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty.” He also posted the names, photos, phone numbers and work addresses of the three judges.

Mr. Turner’s words, which will test the boundaries of free speech, have emerged from an unlikely place: a three-story brick building across from a car wash in North Bergen, where many of his neighbors are Hispanic. Federal agents arrested him there last week, finding three semiautomatic handguns and a shotgun, along with 350 rounds of ammunition.

At a hearing on Thursday, prosecutors said they would consent to letting Mr. Turner remain under house arrest after posting bail if he surrendered all his broadcasting equipment and Internet access. The police planned to monitor his home computers to ensure that he stayed off the Web. He would also have to submit to a mental health evaluation and not travel outside New Jersey and northern Illinois, where he is charged.

The judge, Michael A. Shipp, said: “Quite frankly, after reading all the information I’m concerned about the defendant’s threat to the community.”

John Turner, 44, Mr. Turner’s brother, said after the hearing that his brother’s arrest constituted an “abuse of power.” Another bail hearing is set for Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, a note from Mr. Turner, apparently written in jail, was posted on his Web site. In it, he asked his supporters for money to pay a lawyer and to post bond.

“I’ve been jailed in protective custody on account of the U.S. marshals because I’m the only non-Hispanic white guy in the prison,” the note said. Visitors to his Web site are now directed to a blog run by his mother.

Mr. Turner has been broadcasting from his home since 2001. In an interview he gave to The Record of Hackensack in 2003, Mr. Turner, a former Marine, said that his turn from budding politician to firebrand Internet activist came a few years earlier after a decision by the Republican leadership in Hudson County to endorse a Hispanic woman over him to challenge Senator Robert Menendez, who was then in the House of Representatives.

“I had never judged people on their race, not prior to that point,” he said.

Frank Askin, a professor of constitutional law at Rutgers University, said statements as “obnoxious and offensive” as those attributed to Mr. Turner are still protected. “In order to convict him, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to overrule earlier doctrine,” he said. “I don’t think he can be convicted of incitement. People who listen to him have time to think.”

In the 2003 interview with The Record, Mr. Turner spoke well of the people of North Bergen, a town where Hispanics make up more than 60 percent of the population. “They fit in just fine,” he said. “They are decent people.” (In the same article, Mr. Turner referred to some residents of Los Angeles as “brown-skinned savages.”)

One of his neighbors recalled several run-ins with Mr. Turner. Roldan Flores, 44, a truck driver, said that while many of his exchanges with Mr. Turner were polite, the two had an argument more than a year ago. Mr. Flores said he had music blaring from his car stereo and Mr. Turner came outside and exchanged words with him. Later that evening, as Mr. Flores left his apartment, Mr. Turner emerged from his apartment across the hall at the same time with a pistol prominently displayed, stuffed down the front of his shorts with the handle protruding.

“Never did I know he had a gun until that altercation with him,” Mr. Flores said last week.

Mr. Flores said around the same time Mr. Turner hung a sign on a telephone pole near the front of the building which read, “No infestation, no immigration.” Mr. Flores said he tore the sign down with a tire iron and threw it in the trash.

White Firefighters Win In Court

TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

White firefighters win Supreme Court appeal
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer
47 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional.

New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

The ruling could give Sotomayor's critics fresh ammunition two weeks before her Senate confirmation hearing. Conservatives say it shows she is a judicial activist who lets her own feelings color her decisions. On the other hand, liberal allies say her stance in the case demonstrates her restraint and unwillingness to go beyond established precedents.

Coincidentally, the court may have given a boost to calls for quick action on her nomination.

The court said it will return Sept. 9 to hear a second round of arguments in a campaign finance case, and with Justice David Souter retiring there would be only eight justices unless Sotomayor has been confirmed by then.

In Monday's ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions." He was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters "understandably attract this court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them."

Justices Souter, Stephen Breyer and John Paul Stevens signed onto Ginsburg's dissent, which she read aloud in court Monday. Speaking dismissively of the majority opinion, she predicted the court's ruling "will not have staying power."

Kennedy's opinion made only passing reference to the work of Sotomayor and the other two judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who upheld a lower court ruling in favor of New Haven.

But the appellate judges have been criticized for producing a cursory opinion that failed to deal with "indisputably complex and far from well-settled" questions, in the words of another appeals court judge, Sotomayor mentor Jose Cabranes.

"This perfunctory disposition rests uneasily with the weighty issues presented by this appeal," Cabranes said, in a dissent from the full 2nd Circuit's decision not to hear the case.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Sotomayor should not be criticized for the unsigned appeals court decision, which he asserted she did not write. "Judge Sotomayor and the lower court panel did what judges are supposed to do, they followed precedent," said the Vermont Democrat who will preside over Sotomayor's confirmation hearings next month.

Leahy also called the high court decision "cramped" and wrong.

In New Haven, Nancy Ricci, whose son, Frank, was the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit, carried a large cake decorated with red, white and blue frosting into the law office where the firefighters were celebrating their victory.

The ruling is "a sign that individual achievement should not take a back seat to race or ethnicity," said Karen Torre, the firefighters' attorney. "I think the import of the decision is that cities cannot bow to politics and pressure and lobbying by special interest groups or act to achieve racial quotas."

At a press conference on the steps of city hall in New Haven, firefighter Frank Ricci said the ruling showed that "if you work hard, you can succeed in America."

Monday's decision has its origins in New Haven's need to fill vacancies for lieutenants and captains in its fire department. It hired an outside firm to design a test, which was given to 77 candidates for lieutenant and 41 candidates for captain.

Fifty-six firefighters passed the exams, including 41 whites, nine blacks and six Hispanics. But of those, only 17 whites and two Hispanics could expect promotion.

The city eventually decided not to use the exam to determine promotions. It said it acted because it might have been vulnerable to claims that the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law's prohibition on intentional discrimination. The lawsuit was filed by 20 white plaintiffs, including one man who is both white and Hispanic.

Kennedy said an employer needs a "strong basis in evidence" to believe it will be held liable in a disparate impact lawsuit. New Haven had no such evidence, he said.

The city declined to validate the test after it was given, a step that could have identified flaws or determined that there were no serious problems with it. In addition, city officials could not say what was wrong with the test, other than the racially skewed results.

"The city could be liable for disparate-impact discrimination only if the examinations were not job related" or the city failed to use a less discriminatory alternative, Kennedy said. "We conclude that there is no strong basis in evidence to establish that the test was deficient in either of these respects."

But Ginsburg said the court should have assessed "the starkly disparate results" of the exams against the backdrop of historical and ongoing inequality in the New Haven fire department. As of 2003, she said, only one of the city's 21 fire captains was African-American.

Until this decision, Ginsburg said, the civil rights law's prohibitions on intentional discrimination and disparate impact were complementary, both aimed at ending workplace discrimination.

"Today's decision sets these paired directives at odds," she said.

Metger Raided - Mahon Finally Arrested

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Icing On The Cake

North Bergen blogger ordered detained
Thursday, June 25, 2009
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

TO ORIGINAL STORY

Harold “Hal” Turner, the controversial internet radio host and blogger from North Bergen, was ordered detained Thursday by a federal magistrate on charges of threatening to kill three federal appeals court judges in Chicago for upholding a ban on handguns.

“I am concerned about the defendant’s dangerousness to the community,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp during a hearing in Newark a day after Turner’s arrest by the FBI.

The government and Turner’s attorney, Michael Orozco, offered the judge a bail package that included confining Turner to his Paterson Plank Road apartment, restricting his access to the Internet, and having his mother post her Pennsylvania home as collateral for a $200,000 bond.

But Shipp said he was not satisfied that the security for the bond had been sufficiently vetted by court personnel and rejected the bail package, telling Orozco he could reapply.

At the same time, the judge granted the government’s request to transfer Turner to Chicago for further proceedings in the case.

Wearing a grey T-shirt and blue jeans, his wrists and ankles locked in shackles, Turner, 47, appeared surprised when Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Judson Welle told the judge that his release would pose “a great danger” to the community.

Turner, who for years has pushed the limits of constitutionally protected speech, may have crossed that line in Internet postings June 2 and 3 allegedly threatening the judges in retaliation for their recent ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb.

The postings, in which Turner said the judges “deserved to be killed,” included their photographs, work address and a picture of the building where they work, Welle said.

Turner also made reference to a judge in the same district whose husband and mother were murdered in 2005, Welle said.

“Apparently, the 7th U.S. Circuit court didn’t get the hint after those killings. It appears another lesson is needed,” Turner allegedly wrote on his blog.

Killing the judges would “send a message” to other judges that they must “obey the constitution or die,” Welle said, referring to Turners’ postings.

During a search of Turner’s home, agents recovered three handguns, a shotgun and 350 rounds of ammunition, Welle told the judge. Orozco said the weapons are all licensed.

Turner, who bills his internet radio network as “the last bastion of true free speech” in the U.S. media, admitted to agents that he would be responsible if someone acted on his postings, the prosecutor said.

After the hearing, Orozco acknowledged that Turner has called for the murder of judges and lawmakers, among others, in the past, and that in the wake of the slayings of an abortion doctor and a guard at Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., the landscape appears to have changed.

“Clearly this is a First Amendment issue and whether he dances too close to the line is an issue to be determined by the courts,” Orozco said.

If convicted of threatening to assault or murder the judges, Turner faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
E-mail: sampson@northjersey.com







LINK TO THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

This is it...this is the "I told you so" that I have been waiting for. This is the icing on the cake.

In 2005, Judge Joan Lefkow entered her Chicago home to find her husband and elderly mother had been assassinated. The next day, racist shock-jock, Hal Turner, posted a picture of Judge Lefkow with the bold caption, "GOTCHA." Over the last four years, Turner has repeatedly told others on his website that the Judge's family was killed because of him:

"Do you know why those law enforcement agencies watch me so closely? Because they KNOW I hurt people; they just can;t prove it.

"THey KNOW homes and businesses have been fire bombed becuase of me;they just can;t prove it.

"They KNOW a federal judges family was killed in Chicago because of me;they just can't prove it." (Hal Turner, January, 2007)

Hal Turner fell silent in a Conneticut courtroom a couple of days ago as he stood before a judge on charges of inciting violence. His website fell silent today as he was arrested yesterday by the FBI.

It took four years of putting up with Hal Turner's threats and calls for violence. Four very long years - but now, maybe we can say:

GOTCHA!

New Blog In The Neighborhood

"Lunatic Fringe USA" looks to be a really promising blog. Their message:

Lunatic Fringe USA:
In the 1930's FDR coined the term "lunatic fringe" to describe the radical right which consisted of such groups and people as Radio Priest Father Coughlin, Preacher L.K. Smith, America Firsters,the Silver Shirts,Nazis,the KKK and many more.

In 2009 the Lunatic Fringe of the far right consists of people like Radio Host Rush Limbaugh, Preacher Pete Peters, Holocaust Deniers, Neo Confederate, Neo Nazis,the KKK and many more.

Lunatic Fringe USA uses news stories, personal experiences, pictures, audio, and humor to dispell the myths and dreams of the lunatic far right.

Lunatic Fringe USA will keep you informed of crimes and dangers from the radical right.

Check 'em out here

HAL TURNER MUM IN COURT

For someone whose mouth got him into so much trouble, it appears that Hal Turner, racist shock-jock out of New Jersey, didn't have much to say today at his arraignment in Conneticut. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks.

TO ORIGINAL SOURCE

NJ Blogger Appears In Court
Harold Turner Faces Charge Of Inciting Violence Against State LawmakersHARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
Harold "Hal" Turner (File)
CBS 2

A New Jersey blogger accused of encouraging violence against Connecticut legislators told authorities he hoped nobody would "go off the deep end and do something terrible," but he added, "you never can tell," according to a police report released Monday.

A judge arraigned Harold "Hal" Turner in Hartford Superior Court on Monday on a felony charge of inciting injury to persons. Turner, who says his words are protected by free speech rights, did not enter a plea. He and his attorney declined to comment.

Earlier this month, the 47-year-old former radio talk show host urged his blog readers to "take up arms" against Connecticut lawmakers and suggested government officials should "obey the Constitution or die."

Turner, of North Bergen, N.J., was angry over legislation that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches more control over their parishes' finances. The bill, brought by state Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor, was withdrawn in March.

Turner promised readers he would release state officials' home addresses. He also wrote that Catholics should "put down this tyranny by force" and "I suspect we have enough bullets" to stop any prosecutors, police officers or court officials.

A Connecticut Capitol police officer said in the arrest warrant affidavit released Monday that Turner took responsibility for what he wrote in the June 2 posting.

"I did an article on it, and then posted some very terse commentary at the bottom," Turner told the officer the same day as the posting.

"It's certainly my intent to motivate the public to get involved in this, and certainly we hope that nobody's going to go off the deep end and do something terrible, but ... you never can tell," Turner said, according to the affidavit.

Police said the specific targets of Turner's comments were McDonald, Lawlor and Thomas Jones, an enforcement officer at the Office of State Ethics. Lawlor filed the police complaint, and McDonald and Jones told officers they were worried about their safety.

The ethics office has been investigating whether the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport should have registered as a lobbying group for its actions related to the parish finances bill and a rally at the Capitol on March 11. The diocese is suing the ethics office in federal court, citing free speech rights.

The crime Turner is charged with, inciting injury to persons or property, carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years. His next court hearing is July 14.

Turner's views have drawn scrutiny before. Two years ago, police in New Jersey beefed up security for four state Supreme Court justices whose addresses Turner revealed "to show they can be gotten to." Turner released the information after the court ruled that gay couples were entitled to the same rights as married couples.

Mississippi Murders Not Going Away

Miss. killings under review

Feds investigating 1964 murders in Philadelphia

Jerry Mitchell
jmitchell@clarionledger.com

The Ku Klux Klan's killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi that stunned a nation 45 years ago again are being investigated.

"This case is being actively reviewed by the Civil Rights Division and the FBI," Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the division, told The Clarion-Ledger. "Our goal in investigating this case is to lend our assistance to authorities in Mississippi so that they may make a determination whether sufficient evidence exists for a state prosecution."

Five suspects are still alive in the case, including reputed Klansman Billy Wayne Posey, who told Mississippi investigators there were "a lot of persons involved in the murders that did not go to jail."

The news comes as civil rights activists have been taking part in 45th anniversary ceremonies remembering the June 21, 1964, killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and calling for justice in that case and others from the civil rights era.

Schwerner's widow, Rita Bender of Seattle, said she hopes federal authorities will lend their assistance not only to this case but also to any other case where enough evidence exists to pursue prosecution. "The clock is ticking," she said. "Time is running out."

Hundreds of FBI agents investigated the trio's disappearance, leading to the discovery of their bodies 44 days later. They had been buried 15 feet beneath an earthen dam.

In 1967, 18 men went on trial on federal conspiracy charges, and seven were convicted.

But the only murder prosecution took place in 2005 when a Neshoba County jury convicted reputed Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen on three counts of manslaughter. The FBI assisted the state's investigation that ended with Killen being sentenced to 60 years in prison.

The Clarion-Ledger has since revealed that the Neshoba County grand jury that indicted Killen came within one vote of also charging Posey, with a deciding vote against indictment cast by a Posey relative. The newspaper also has found three potential new witnesses against Posey.

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of statements Posey gave state authorities in which he admitted he was among those who pursued the trio that night, was there when they were killed and helped haul their bodies to the dam to bury them.

State prosecutors can't use Posey's statement because they agreed not to.

Neshoba County Deputy Cecil Price told authorities prior to his death that he told Posey in 1964 he had just jailed the three civil rights workers and asked Posey to get in contact with Killen.

In a new documentary, Neshoba, which focuses on events leading to Killen's conviction, Killen's wife, Jo, is quoted as saying, "I feel like Billy Wayne Posey was there, and I feel like he was more responsible than Edgar Ray was."

Although Posey has denied being a member of the Klan, his brother, Richard, said, "Ninety percent of the people in Neshoba County, Mississippi, were Klansmen. Hell, I was in there."

He said the trio were "warned to get the hell out. They didn't do it, so they wound up out there in the earthen dam. Damn good place for 'em."

Alvin Sykes of Kansas City, Mo., architect of legislation creating a cold-cases unit in the Justice Department, said Friday after speaking with Justice Department officials that "anybody that believes the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner case is over may be mistaken. We feel comfortable there is an aggressive review under way."

He said he encouraged federal officials to communicate with Neshoba County District Attorney Mark Duncan and see if it's possible for a federal prosecutor to assist the state in the case.

Duncan could not be reached for comment, but he has said he would be willing to prosecute the case against others if more evidence emerged.

Since 2006, FBI agents have spent countless hours working on more than 100 unpunished killings from the civil rights era. In many of those cases, agents had little more to work with than newspaper articles.

But the most infamous triple killing from that era wasn't included in that work by agents, despite the fact the initial FBI investigation was so intensive it generated nearly 40,000 pages of documents.

Asked if FBI agents are actually out investigating the case, Miyar responded, "We never discuss the nature or particulars of a federal investigation."

State officials have just cleared the way for a historic marker to be placed on Mississippi 19 near where the trio were killed on Rock Cut Road.

The Philadelphia Coalition has purchased the marker to be placed there. "It's a means of acknowledging what happened in a public, unequivocal way," said Susan Glisson, director of the University of Mississippi's William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, who worked with the coalition.

Missouri To Get Even?

Road cleaned by neo-Nazis may be named for rabbi
Mon, 22 Jun 2009 8:10a.m.


Two Adopt-a-Highway signs on a Missouri road acknowledge a neo-Nazi group's participation in the state's litter prevention program.

But if Gov. Jay Nixon signs a large transportation bill, that half-mile section of road will be renamed "Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway" in honor of a rabbi who narrowly escaped the Nazis in World War II and later marched with Martin Luther King Jr.

The Springfield unit of the National Socialist Movement committed last year to clean up trash along the section of Highway 160 near the city limits in west Springfield. Two signs noting the group's membership in the Adopt-A-Highway program went up last October.

"For the National Socialist movement to be in the Adopt-a-Highway program is well within their rights," said Rabbi Alan L. Cohen of the Jewish Community Relations Board of Kansas City, which worked on selecting Heschel's name for the highway.

"But obviously there were people raising the concern that this is the wrong message for people to see driving down a Missouri highway, that there are National Socialists out here," Cohen said Sunday. "Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who stands for justice." ...CONTINUED HERE

Standing Up To Hate

Over at Crooks & Liars, Dave Neiwert usually has some great insight into the right-wing menace and the past couple of days have been especially fun. As we have gone round and round with this whole issue of free speech and responsibility, I was particularly interested in this article from last Friday:

FULL STORY AND VIDEO

Crooks and Liars
Friday June 19, 2009 12:00 pm
As right-wing talkers mainstream extremism, progressives are standing up to the hate
By David Neiwert
You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

We've been reporting here at C&L for a long time on the way mainstream conservative pundits have been transmitting talking points, ideas, and a panoply of fake "facts" that originated on the extremist right and treating them as legitimate, thereby giving them credibility with the public they do not deserve, and in the process radicalizing increasing segments of the American Right.

Yesterday, Eric Boehlert of Media Matters hosted a panel of leading progressive who are ready to start speaking out about the phenomenon. It included officials from the Southern Poverty Law Center, America's Voice, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Council of La Raza, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, who set out "to examine how the mainstreaming of extremism impacts our security, politics, and culture."

The discussion follows on the heels of LCCR's timely report that was released earlier this week pointing out the toxic effects of mainstream right-wing punditry in helping to foment the atmosphere of intolerance, scapegoating, and violence that now surrounds the immigration debate. (Think Progress has more on this too.)

A classic example of this is about to occur: As America's Voice explains in a background briefing, this weekend's "America's Cause" conference will be a prime breeding ground for this kind of rhetoric:

For those who cover immigration issues, none of this hate speech is new. Nor is the fact that so-called legitimate spokespersons deliver hate-filled messages that flow seamlessly from CNN to the white nationalist foot soldier and to Congress in a flood of angry faxes and phone calls.

This weekend's American Cause conference is a vivid example of how the worlds of extremism, media and politics converge.
Look Who's Coming To Virginia:

According to the conference website, joining the Buchanan siblings at the meeting are such right-wing luminaries as: Tony Blankley, Tom Tancredo, Phyllis Schlafly, Terry Jeffrey, Ward Connerly, John Hostettler, Ken Blackwell, Christopher Horner, Richard Scott, Lou Barletta and Peter Brimelow. Leaders in the fight against healthcare reform, environmental protection, and more are joining unvarnished white nationalists to "Build the New Majority."

I've been talking about this subject on the radio quite a bit this past week, since it is the core subject of my book, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. I've been pointing out how the underlying dynamic is almost identical in nature to the challenge confronting communities when they have to deal with hate crimes and hate groups in their midst -- writ large, as it were.

In those situations, it's important to understand that the perpetrators believe they are acting on the unspoken, real wishes and needs of their communities. They believe they are actually being heroic and patriotic in standing up for those wishes.

This is why it's so critical for communities who wish to prevent these kinds of acts from occurring to stand up and make their real wishes, their real needs, publicly known. That's why the act of standing up to this kind of talk -- no matter how "PC" it may feel" -- absolutely essential: It undercuts their belief that they're being "heroic."

As I told Joshua Holland:

DN: ...What we are advocating -- what I'm advocating -- is standing up, using our own free speech. Hate speech is protected speech in this country, and it should be. I wouldn't have it any other way. But it's grossly irresponsible speech.

We, as citizens, have an obligation: If we are going to enjoy freedom of speech, we need to live up to the responsibility that comes with it. This is of course a common theme on the right -- that with your freedoms come responsibility. We say yes. With your freedom of speech comes a responsibility to speak responsibly, not in a way that harms other people, particularly when you have these huge media megaphones that give individuals the power to propagandize to millions of people.

It's incredibly irresponsible to start demonizing and dehumanizing other people, because that opens all of those people up to hate crimes and various acts of vicious retaliation that disturbed individuals have gotten permission for from eliminationist rhetoric.

Remember, censorship is government action against individuals. What we want to talk about is ... nobody wants to take Bill O'Reilly's free speech away, but we need to question whether he deserves to have that big megaphone. So I always advocate going to their advertisers and doing whatever you need to do to stand up.

One of the things that I learned while studying hate crimes is that the vast majority of hate crimes are committed by ordinary people, not by members of hate groups. Yet it's also the case that the vast majority of hate crimes are accompanied by hate-group rhetoric. So in a lot of ways hate crimes are a manifestation of the way right-wing extremism has permeated the broader culture. But more than that, these ordinary people also believe -- and I might add this includes the white supremacists -- that what they are doing reflects the secret desires, the unspoken wishes of the community that they believe they are defending.

When you stand up to them, when you engage in the act of standing up to them, that knocks that plank right out from under them, because when the community stands up and says, "No, these are not our values, this is not what we believe in, what you are doing is wrong," that takes that belief away.

JH: The silent majority ...

DN: Right. It's really important that the "silent majority" stop being silent and let them know that this is not acceptable. There are various ways of letting them know that. A guy like O'Reilly is never going to stop. So eventually what you have to do is go after his advertisers, get him off the air, because he is not going to change his ways.

This kind of focused attention to the problem is an important act of standing up. Hopefully, it's only the start

Pocket Full of Miracles

Being a white nationalist in today's world just isn't getting any easier. As a matter of fact, it can be downright difficult and, at times, more than a little confusing. I mean, just think about it.

What does a good white nationalist really stand for? Is he a Christian, a pagan, or an atheist? Is he anti-government or a patriotic American? Dose he believe in genocide or separation? Does he hate everything non-white or is he just anti-Semitic? Is he a little bit anti-Semitic, or does he hate all Jews? Should he fight for a white homeland or just a neighborhood? And...who should lead him to his long-awaited racial holy war?

Other issues plaguing the utterly disheveled white racist are things like should he get a tattoo or should he shave his head. Jack-boots or loafers? Suit and tie, or white power tee shirt? Beer bottle or tea-cup?

As the white nationalist movement has grappled with the fragmented nature of its own ideology, we have witnessed a unifying of sorts as individuals who ascribe to the racist agenda have been choosing sides between the hardcore and the soft-sell. It's certainly not a battle of wits - but it is one that may determine the fate of organized racism in this country. However, the recent events of right-wing extremists acting out their violent fantasies have given an ego boost to one of the most perfidious losers within their rank and file.


Upon the tragic shooting at the Holocaust Museum, John de Nugent couldn't wait to capitalize on the nation's grief. De Nugent, a.k.a. John Nugent, a.k.a. Jack Nugent, is a sort of right-wing, sort of racist, sort of anti-Semite, no-doubt-about-it goof-ball who has suddenly been catapulted into the media frenzy surrounding the musem shooting. Of course, that is of his own doing as he called the Washington Post to let them know that he was on the shooter's mailing list - oh yeah, and he spoke with James von Brunn on the phone, although the two of them never met.

De Nugent has been trying to make some inroads on the white nationalist front for awhile now but has gotten trampled pretty soundly over the last several months after more than just a few faux pas and whole passel of bad decisions.

After moving to Sarver, Pennsylvania, home of the Lernerville Speedway and just under 9,000 residents, de Nugent thought he would be able to lure more racists to an already heavily white area to bolster him in his quest for a leadership position among the nationalist crowd.


He believed that after having written some articles for Willis Carto's Barnes Review, a Holocaust denial publication, and shamelessly exploiting a young Finnish nationalist who was summarily deported from the United States because of that exploitation de Nugent thought (and still thinks) himself worthy of leading the white race to some sort of victory.

As is true with so many self-appointed leaders, especially those leading outlandish or unsavory endeavors, however, de Nugent's psychotic and delusional ego sent red-flags up throughout the racist community. After all, they have seen more than their share of egomaniacal leaders.

In internet post after post, de Nugent told his story of heart-breaking abuse as a child and the psychological trauma as well as his many psychiatric treatments. For most readers, not feeling a sense of empathy and compassion would render one, at the very least, heartless. However, as de Nugent belabored the point ad nauseum, a stirring of disquietude began within the white nationalist community. Some began to feel uneasy and began to question his stability.

Add to his many recitations of childhood anguish his insistence upon believing that all Jews are psychopathic and that everyone who disagree with him is a Jew, the alienation of his peers was well underway.

When young Henrik Holappa entered the picture as a Finnish nationalist seeking asylum from prosecution in his homeland, de Nugent took him in and began to promote him within the American white nationalist community. Of course, it was readily evident to many bystanders that not only was this unwise, but also de Nugent's means of self-promotion.

Most narcissits are plagued with the inability to make good decisions and many become obsessive with their own self-aggrandizement. De Nugent is no exception. Obsessed with Holappa, de Nugent posted picture after picture of he and Henrik on the internet. Given to long ramblings anyway, de Nugent's internet offerings became a gallery of pictures and gushings over the 22-year-old racist. It backfired.


When de Nugent was accused, not only of exploitation, but of being a closeted homosexual the outcry from de Nugent was almost palpable. As he had already been banned from other forums for his outbursts and abuse, it was little wonder that Don Black over at Stormfront gave him the boot. However, in other areas John de Nugent was also rapidly sealing his fate.


Amidst the brouhaha over de Nugent's sexual proclivities, John continued into a downward spiral. Cozying up to Joe Fields, a convicted child molestor who somehow remains within the movement, didn't gain de Nugent any fans - although he thought it would. Time and again John tried to defend Fields. Of course, when he actually published a communication between Kevin Alfred Strom who pled guilty to child pornography a little while back, de Nugent's fan base was rapidly dwindling.

In one move of desperation after another, John de Nugent found himself caught in a web of lies, distortions, and deceit. Publishing emails from those he called "comrades," claiming past associations with little to no basis in fact, name-dropping and back-slapping de Nugent found himself with but a handful of simple-minded followers.

Criticized for not attending a conference in Boston where he was scheduled to speak, de Nugent stated:

"Let me just say this: to all who said I was a coward for not going to Boston, remember that the Jews try to arrest ALL the leaders.

"The Pentagon calls it "decapitation.

"The Old Testament calls it "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter."

As his base of supporters had diminished, his own obsession with proving his self-importance had grown. So had his contradictions.

You see, de Nugent seems to be just as confused as the rest of the movement is - and for a would-be leader that isn't the best thing to be. But, de Nugent thinks he can make it all up as he goes along. He's that good.

If you are a Christian joining up with John - that's okay, because John believes in Christ. If you happen to be anything else, that's okay too because John isn't a Christian, he just admires Christ.

If you believe in genocide - hey, no problem. Because John really hates Jews. But, if you just believe in separation of the races - hey, John's a separatist.

If you happen to be anti-Semitic to the core - John's good with that. But, if you like some Jews, no problem. After all, John has had a couple of Jewish girlfriends, a Jewish psychiatrist, and hung out with a Rabbi. He really likes the Jews for Jesus group.

He even makes up his own words. I call them Nugent Nuggets. An all-around, flexible guy - that's John.

Of course, de Nugent has spent his entire life devoted to the white race, (notwithstanding his Jewish associations and visits to the psychiatrist, of course.) And, according to his website he now endangers his life to lead us. He is planning on running for President the next time around.

You could probably already guess that he has hung out with all of the racist notables - at least once. He even claims to have been "hard core" at one point. That entailed wearing a swastika and handing out literature at his college. It's amazing that he survived such activism.

On June 10th, James von Brunn opened fire at the Holocaust museum and John de Nugent saw his opportunity. After his call to the Washington Post, other media outlets were more than happy to speak to the man who knew von Brunn. They should have done their homework.

Alex Linder of Vanguard News Network, along with many others on the racist front have martyrized the actions of the 88-year-old racist. De Nugent, on the other hand, told the media, "I absolutely condemn what James von Brunn did." Good for him. Bad for him.

The reaction among those hard-nosed white nationalist was one of utter contempt for de Nugent. Other, more cautious, supremacists agreed. Still others, naive enough to believe John de Nugent is crafty and cunning thought this was merely a ruse on his part to secure favor with the media and the white masses.

I hate to tell those in latter group that John de Nugent is that smart - but I think he is crazy. I would urge all of them to go back and read some of his writings. Note the inconsistencies in all that he says. Note his disdain of others who came before him and his exaltation of self as the great white hope. Then look to yourselves and ask what you are doing following someone so ill-fated.

As to the media hoopla surrounding this new-found Nazi, I would ask them why they would be so irresponsible as to promote such a person as a reliable source. I would ask them to do, at least, some cursory research into the background of those individuals to whom they ask the public to assume are credible.

As to John de Nugent, who now claims, "We just want a place where we are safe, pockets of white heritage," instead of a white homeland, I would say - it will take a pocket full of miracles for you to lead anyone anywhere. To the other racists - with leaders like this, no wonder you're confused.

ARMY TURNS HEAD

Photo by Matt Kennard
TO FULL STORY

Neo-Nazis are in the Army now
Why the U.S. military is ignoring its own regulations and permitting white supremacists to join its ranks.

Editor's note: Research support for this article was provided by the Nation Institute's Investigative Fund.

By Matt Kennard




Iraq veteran Forrest Fogarty sailed through recruitment despite his neo-Nazi tattoos.

June 15, 2009 | On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. He told me on the phone I would recognize him by his skinhead. Sure enough, when I spot a white guy at a table by the door with a shaved head, white tank top and bulging muscles, I know it can only be him.

Over a plate of chicken wings, he tells me about his path into the white-power movement. "I was 14 when I decided I wanted to be a Nazi," he says. At his first high school, near Los Angeles, he was bullied by black and Latino kids. That's when he first heard Skrewdriver, a band he calls "the godfather of the white power movement." "I became obsessed," he says. He had an image from one of Skrewdriver's album covers — a Viking carrying a staff, an icon among white nationalists — tattooed on his left forearm. Soon after he had a Celtic cross, an Irish symbol appropriated by neo-Nazis, emblazoned on his stomach.

At 15, Fogarty moved with his dad to Tampa, where he started picking fights with groups of black kids at his new high school. "On the first day, this bunch of niggers, they thought I was a racist, so they asked, 'Are you in the KKK?'" he tells me. "I said, 'Yeah,' and it was on." Soon enough, he was expelled.


For the next six years, Fogarty flitted from landscaping job to construction job, neither of which he'd ever wanted to do. "I was just drinking and fighting," he says. He started his own Nazi rock group, Attack, and made friends in the National Alliance, at the time the biggest neo-Nazi group in the country. It has called for a "a long-term eugenics program involving at least the entire populations of Europe and America."

But the military ran in Fogarty's family. His grandfather had served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and his dad had been a Marine in Vietnam. At 22, Fogarty resolved to follow in their footsteps. "I wanted to serve my country," he says.

Army regulations prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. Before signing on the dotted line, enlistees are required to explain any tattoos. At a Tampa recruitment office, though, Fogarty sailed right through the signup process. "They just told me to write an explanation of each tattoo, and I made up some stuff, and that was that," he says. Soon he was posted to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became part of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Fogarty's ex-girlfriend, intent on destroying his new military career, sent a dossier of photographs to Fort Stewart. The photos showed Fogarty attending white supremacist rallies and performing with his band, Attack. "They hauled me before some sort of committee and showed me the pictures," Fogarty says. "I just denied them and said my girlfriend was a spiteful bitch." He adds: "They knew what I was about. But they let it go because I'm a great soldier."

In 2003, Fogarty was sent to Iraq. For two years he served in the military police, escorting officers, including generals, around the hostile country. He says he was granted top-secret clearance and access to battle plans. Fogarty speaks with regret that he "never had any kill counts." But he says his time in Iraq increased his racist resolve.

"I hate Arabs more than anybody, for the simple fact I've served over there and seen how they live," he tells me. "They're just a backward people. Them and the Jews are just disgusting people as far as I'm concerned. Their customs, everything to do with the Middle East, is just repugnant to me."

Because of his tattoos and his racist comments, most of his buddies and his commanding officers were aware of his Nazism. "They all knew in my unit," he says. "They would always kid around and say, 'Hey, you're that skinhead!'" But no one sounded an alarm to higher-ups. "I would volunteer for all the hardest missions, and they were like, 'Let Fogarty go.' They didn't want to get rid of me."

Fogarty left the Army in 2005 with an honorable discharge. He says he was asked to reenlist. He declined. He was sick of the system.

Since the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military has struggled to recruit and reenlist troops. As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, issuing "moral waivers" in many cases, allowing even those with criminal records to join up. Veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder have been ordered back to the Middle East for second and third tours of duty.

The lax regulations have also opened the military's doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right. A recent Department of Homeland Security report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," stated: "The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today." Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military's strategic goals but because killing "hajjis" is their duty as white militants.

Soldiers' associations with extremist groups, and their racist actions, contravene a host of military statutes instituted in the past three decades. But during the "war on terror," U.S. armed forces have turned a blind eye on their own regulations. A 2005 Department of Defense report states, "Effectively, the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining to extremism. If individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinions overt … they are likely to be able to complete their contracts."

Carter F. Smith is a former military investigator who worked with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command from 2004 to 2006, when he helped to root out gang violence in troops. "When you need more soldiers, you lower the standards, whether you say so or not," he says. "The increase in gangs and extremists is an indicator of this." Military investigators may be concerned about white supremacists, he says. "But they have a war to fight, and they don't have incentive to slow down."

Tom Metzger is the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and current leader of the White Aryan Resistance. He tells me the military has never been more tolerant of racial extremists. "Now they are letting everybody in," he says.

CONTINUED...Next page: "White Supremacy will prevail! US Military leading the way!"

Von Brunn's Son Says Father's Act One of Cowardice

FIND STORY HERE

Hundreds attend reopening of DC's Holocaust museum

Jun. 14, 2009

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum reopened its doors Friday to crowds of visitors who came to pay tribute to the latest victim of the racial intolerance the institution is dedicated to opposing, and to call for its work to continue despite the threats it faces.

Those who visited the museum, which was shut the day before to honor Stephen Johns, the security guard killed by a white supremacist on Wednesday, called it a repudiation of the hatred James von Brunn showed when he opened fire at the building dedicated to the memory of those who died at the hands of the Nazis.

"It's important to come back, because if you don't, they win," 17-year-old Tammi Miller, who was evacuated from the museum during Wednesday's shooting, told The Washington Post. She and her family returned Friday to finish their tour.

According to the Post, Sara Bloomfield, the museum's director, said Friday witnessed at least as many visitors as a normal day, if not more.

She also praised those who came for performing "an act of defiance," which she described as an illustration "of what this country is all about."

On Saturday the museum announced it had set up a fund to benefit the Johns family, which comes on top of a similar fund set up by the American Jewish Committee on Thursday.

Johns, 39, a private guard who had worked at the museum for six years, left behind a wife and an 11-year-old son from a previous marriage.

His widow, who had recently celebrated their one-year anniversary, released a note Friday saying, "Steve was my husband and my best friend. He was my everything."

Johns was described by friends and coworkers as exceedingly kind and courteous. He left that impression on museum-goers too, including Dianne Romano, who Johns helped shortly before the shooting.

"He was so nice to us when we came in, telling us where to go," Romano recalled.

Johns apparently opened the door for the 88-year-old von Brunn, according to authorities.

Though it is not clear whether von Brunn, who was hit by return fire and has remained in critical condition, targeted Johns because he was AfricanAmerican, his writings - including a note police found in the car he parked near the museum - make clear that he despised blacks as well as Jews.

"The Holocaust is a lie," the note said. "[US President Barack] Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do. Jews captured America's money. Jews control the mass media."

Analysts have reportedly seen an increase in extremist threats with the election of the country's first black president and the economic downturn, and are warning that a spate of similar attacks could be in store.

"I believe we are headed for an unprecedented level of conflict and racial turmoil," said Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt University expert on white nationalism.

Former FBI agent Danny Coulson said federal agents have increased their monitoring of white supremacist groups since Obama's election and have noticed increased chatter and membership.

"These neo-Nazi groups have been laying in the weeds for a long time," he said. "Then you have a president who comes in who's an African American and they hate that."

An April intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security said right-wing extremists could use the troubled economy and Obama's election to recruit members.

Concerned von Brunn's actions could also be used to enlist followers to an ideology fostering "sadness and anguish," his son released a statement to ABC News urging that not happen.

"For the extremists who believe my father is a hero: it is imperative you understand what he did was an act of cowardice," Erik von Brunn wrote. "To physically force your beliefs onto others with violence is not brave, but bullying. Doing so only serves to prove how weak those beliefs are."

The killer's son went on to say, "His actions have undermined your 'movement,' and strengthened the resistance against your cause."

On a more personal level, he condemned his father's actions and the pain and suffering they have long wrought.

"His views consumed him, and in doing so, not only destroyed his life, but destroyed our family and ruined our lives as well. For a long time, I believed this was our family's cross to bear. Now, it is not only my families' lives that are in shambles, but those who were directly affected by his actions; especially the family of Mr. Johns, who bravely sacrificed his life to stop my father."

He added, "I cannot express enough how deeply sorry I am it was Mr. Johns, and not my father who lost [his] life."

Whose To Blame?

David Neiwert has an uncanny ability to cut through all of rhetoric and get to the heart of the problem. This article from Crooks and Liars exemplifes that ability. Please visit the link and see the videos backing up Neiwert's premise.

"TO CROOKS AND LIARS

Wednesday June 10, 2009 06:30 pm
Glenn Beck and his fellow wingnuts proclaim Holocaust Museum shooter not a right-winger
By David Neiwert

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Glenn Beck and his fellow wingnuts -- the ones who have been whipping up hysteria among their right-wing populist followers since Obama's election and before -- essentially announced they have no intention of reflecting on their roles in today's horrifying shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

They did this by doing what they always do whenever these situations arise: First call it all an "isolated incident" committed by a "lone nutcase" who just happens to be acting out beliefs emanating from their own quadrant. Then, when that fails, blame it on the Left.

Beck offered the following rationale on his Fox News show tonight:

Beck: What they're missing is: The pot in America is boiling. And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.

Actually, Beck has this exactly right. But frankly, it's boiling because of people like Glenn Beck, ranting hysterically every night about impending apocalypses of various forms -- looming "liberal fascism," the "economic meltdown," the "New World Order," violence spilling over the Mexican border, even FEMA concentration camps.

As I tried to explain in the case of the shooting of Dr. George Tiller, when you spread far-right conspiracy theories through mainstream channels the way Beck does with such abandon, it not only validates their beliefs, it rather hyper-validates them: It tells these people -- who see the Becks and O'Reillys as part of the "liberal media" -- that things are even worse than they thought, and it often spurs them into action.

But Beck, naturally, has no intention of observing this reality. He's running as hard in the other direction as he possibly can:

Beck: This guy is a lone gunman nutjob. ... You're going to see a lot of nutjobs coming out of the woodwork now. There are two very important things that are happening here. First one: It's what I talked about two years ago, um, when I talked about the "Perfect Storm" -- I said that there is a storm formulating. And it is the economy, it is political correctness, it's corruption in Washington, it's militant Islam. It's all of these things.

I said when it comes onshore, there's going to be a "go go go" mentality. And that's what this is. There is a mentality in our enemies. Our country is now vulnerable. Those people who would like to destroy us -- our enemies like, uh, Al Qaeda. There are also enemies like white supremacists or 9/11 Truthers who would also like to destroy the country. They'll work with anybody they can.

... We are under attack in almost every shape and form in America. We need to look out for enemies foreign and domestic.

Second: There is gonna be a witchhunt, I believe, in this country, and quite possibly all around the world. For two groups. First group: Jews. It happens every time.

Second group: I think, Conservatives.

... Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reports about right-wing extremists. You remember that came out a few weeks ago? Left-wing bloggers and some in the media have blamed conservative hosts like me or Bill O'Reilly for just stirring the pot! I'm not stirring the pot. I'm pointing out the pot is boiling and there is trouble in America. Since when -- have you ever heard of 'don't blame the messenger'?

Only when the messenger isn't also one of the people causing the phenomenon they're describing. Then it becomes celebration. And it's obvious that Beck has positively relished seeing the "boiling point" go higher and higher. Indeed, he's been doing his best to apply a white-hot flame to the pot.

Beck: This is not the work of right-wing conservatives. This is the work of someone today who is racist, crazy, or most likely, both. Common sense tells you that there are very hateful people on the Right and the Left.

Yes, but it seems that only one the Right do they do things like shoot up police officers who come to arrest them, or walk into Jewish centers of various kinds and start shooting (remember Buford Furrow?).

And there is little doubt that James W. Von Brunn was a right-winger -- a far right-winger:

Von Brunn has a long history of associations with prominent neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. In the 1980s or early 1990s, von Brunn was employed by Noontide Press, a part of the Holocaust denying Institute of Historical Review, which was then run by Willis Carto, one of America’s most prominent anti-Semites.

Von Brunn is the author of the 1999 book, “Kill the Best Gentiles,” a racist and anti-Semitic tome that argues that whites are seeing “today on the world stage a tragedy of enormous proportions: the calculated destruction of the White Race and the incomparable culture it represents. Europe, former fortress of the West, is now over-run by hordes of non-Whites and mongrels.” A raging anti-Semite, von Brunn blames “The Jews” for the destruction of the West. The book is dedicated to prominent neo-Nazis and racists including Revilo Oliver and Wilmot Robertson.

In 2003, AP reported that von Brunn had painted a portrait of Rear Adm. John Crommelin, a raging anti-Semite who was a close associate of neo-Nazi William Pierce, whose book The Turner Diaries inspired Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

He's also a "birther." But the truly telltale aspect of his record: In 1981, he was arrested for attempting a "citizen's arrest" of Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve Building in D.C. and was sentenced to a prison term for it. Von Brunn claimed "sovereign citizenship" at the time, which almost certainly means he was an adherent of the white-supremacist/far-right movement called Posse Comitatus, and was acting on those beliefs.

More to the point, this is precisely the same belief system that today fuels the cottage industry in conspiracy theories -- promulgated by the likes of Ron Paul and Alex Jones -- that the Fed is part of a massive conspiracy of "international [read: Jewish] bankers" to enslave Americans and destroy the country. It's been around quite awhile, but lately it's been gaining the patina of being regurgitated for mainstream consumption on right-wing media. And in particular, on Glenn Beck's programs.

Here, for example, is the time Beck devoted an entire segment to promoting this conspiratorial view of the Fed.



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And then there was the more recent hour-long segment (promoted by Neil Cavuto on Fox as well) devoted to the latest permutation in these Patriot-movement conspiracy theories -- the "Civilest War" hour promoting "state sovereignty":


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As I said at the time:

Now, it's one thing to point out the radical origins of these "constitutional theories." But it's also important to understand where they want to take us -- to a radically decentralized form of government that was first suggested in the 1970s by the far-right Posse Comitatus movement.

They essentially argue for a constitutional originalism that would not only end the federal income tax, destroy all civil-rights laws, and demolish the Fed, but would also re-legalize slavery, strip women of the right to vote, and remove the principle of equal protection under the law.

Beck's not alone in trying to recast Von Brunn as just a "lone nutcase" inspired more by the left than the right. So is Michelle Malkin, who tries out the right's usual plaintive line, well-rehearsed for these situations: "[S]hooter wasn't 'left' or 'right,' just plain loony."

Um, no, actually, when you look at his record, he was indeed "Right." With a capital "R."

Malkin's main evidence that he has "left wing" associations? The fact that he's also a Troofer.

This is, of course, rich. Now, it should be noted first that there are certain zones of extremist wingnuttery that attract True Believers from both the Left and the Right. All of them are fundamentally conspiracist in their worldview. So you'll find anti-Semitic crap floating around hippie barter fairs of a nature similar to what you might find at a militia gun show. Conspiracy theorists like the Troofers attract people from both the Left and the Right.

The wingnuts have been trying frantically to make the public forget about the lethal existence of right-wing extremists ever since that Homeland Security bulletin came out -- largely because they want to cover up the fact that the distance between themselves and the real nutcases has become so short indeed.

But the violent extremists never let us forget. Sooner or later, they act on their beliefs. And that's when we start to see just how short that distance has become -- regardless of their attempts to claim the opposite.

Malignacy Spreading

June 10th was a warm and very humid day in Washington, D.C. as storms built in from the West. The clouds weren't the only things casting a pallor over the nation's capitol, however. There was an even darker pother creeping toward one of the most revered of our country's historical offerings - the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

James von Brunn, an 89-year-old racist and virulent anti-Semite, chose this day to pick up his rifle and turn his fantasy of ethnic cleansing into a reality. Unfortunately, Stephen Tyrone Johns lost his life while protecting others.

As the media has focused heavily on the writings and past transgressions of Brunn, I will not cover the well-trod territory of the press. A simple Google search of the man will suffice to give the unaware reader a synopsis of the evils that embodied this pitiful octogenarian. What I will, however, explore are the associations of Brunn and dangers that others of his ilk bring to our society.

It is with a very sobered soul that I find myself writing this missive as I was working diligently on something a good deal more lighthearted as the tragic events of the day unfolded.

For well-over a decade, Citizens Against Hate has been chronicling and tracking the actions of the racist movement. We have written thousands of articles and reports, given testimony, engaged in community awareness programs, etc., all in an effort to raise awareness and educate the public to the dangers that organized racism holds for our society. But, nothing has been more successful in raising that alert than the racists themselves.

James von Brunn was an angry and bitter old man. His ex-wife would tell you that his hatred "...ate him alive like a cancer."

That "cancer" is alive and well in thousands throughout our country. It is malignant and it is pernicious. James von Brunn, at 89, is but one manifestation of that malignancy. When William Luther Pierce, founder of the National Alliance died in 2002, followed by Richard Butler, patriarch of the Aryan Nations, in 2004, many thought that with the "old-guard" out of the way, the white supremacist movement was finished. But, the real "old guard" hasn't left the premises - yet.

Von Brunn was close to William Luther Pierce and had ties to Butler. But, he was even closer to another of their protégés - Willis Carto, a revisionist and Holocaust denier from the old school of hate.

Elder statesmen, such as Carto and Brunn are dying off, but their work and influence have far-reaching implications for mainstream America in the current political climate.

A recent example of that is the case of John de Nugent (aka John Nugent; aka Jack Nugent), a psychopath out of Pennsylvania who befriended a young Finnish nationalist by the name of Henrik Holappa who was recently removed from this country in chains.

De Nugent claims to have had ties to von Brunn and, in fact, seemed to have been in contact with him a short time before the shooting. This is not surprising since both he and Brunn were closely associated with Carto.

Holappa had fled Finland to avoid incarceration and ended up in Pennsylvania alongside de Nugent who introduced him to the American version of white nationalism and some of the reprobates who inhabit the movement. De Nugent has lamented the unfair treatment received by Henrik when his application for asylum was denied and he was deported back to Finland just a few days ago.

De Nugent's threnody, however, was quite misplaced, as Holappa was, undoubtedly, considered a terrorist by the standards of Homeland Security. Many white nationalists have found themselves so branded of late.

The whole de Nugent/Holappa affair demonstrates the potential dangers that are inherent with the racist and anti-Semitic right.

Prior to his entry into this country, Holappa wrote several letters to the Iranian newspaper denouncing the United States and Israel. In part, he stated:

"Iran is the last fortress against the Zionism and USA. Europe has gone down in 1945 - year 1945 may never happen again. May the Allah protect the people of Iran and its leadership.

"That what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq can not happen in Iran, never. Dear people of Iran, I appeal on you: Stay as one NATION and destroy the enemy! You are in the frontline fighting against the Zionism and Americans.


"We have to tell about the crimes by the Zionism and USA in the world. They are striking as long time as they can and as long time that they have won. We can never let these cancers to win. In the end the free Nations will crush the Zionism.

Long live Iran!"

As stated earlier, it is the white supremacists themselves who make our case for dangers they present. Upon the broadcast of the events at the Musem, the racist right went into high-gear. A few denounced the actions of von Brunn, but many more were appreciative.

A few of the comments denote the true nature of the beast:

"Hot Damn! A man with balls... He shot a nigger in the kike museum...No great loss...Thanks for your service!"

"Excellent work, we salute your service!"



"Alex Linder: How to explain decorated World War II veteran James von Brunn's actions?

"Simple.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable"—John F. Kennedy

"The jews are driving America into the ground, and one man decided to fight back."

"More people have now been killed in the Holocaust Memorial Museum than in the Holocaust."

"Alex Linder: Collaborating with the jews might be a good short-term career choice, but long term there's nothing but death and dishonor for those who appease the jews."

"This might be the best news I have read in a while. These filthy jews need to know that they are not safe anywhere, even their Kwa homeland.

"My only regret is that Abe Foxman wasn't shot."

"History in the making.

"The first actual jew casualties of the holohoax.

"6,599,998 to go."

"The jews' demonization of White Nationalists is backfiring. They have driven racist Whites underground, leaving many with the lone wolf option only.

"Guess what, you fucking kikes? You never know when one of these lone wolf things is going to happen, or where!..."

While the rhetoric of the extreme racist shocks and even frightens the mainstream, it is the mindset that is the most disconcerting of all. To our credit, most people do not even think in the terms of the extremist yet the thought processes of those who would put into practice that very rhetoric must be closely examined. Interestingly, it is one of the more notorious among them who authenticates that premise as he leads his followers thusly:

I wasn't talking about men with pitchforks or even AKs taking on ZOG.

Right now there are no consequences to white perfidy (the Fox hosts) nor to the jews running the country. They do whatever they want, and fear no repercussions.


What if a couple men kidnapped an ADL higher-up along with, say, a lanky blonde? What if they conducted an interview on camera? What if they proceeded to cut the two's heads off and film it? What if they simultaneously posted the video on a number of online sites? What if this video made it absolutely clear that the jew was killed because he had tried to take White men's guns and free speech, and the blonde was killed because she was a collaborator and an appeaser? What if it was clear that this was not a one-off, but the beginning of a campaign by forces unseen?

The American people aren't following us in part because they see that we aren't willing to die or, more important, kill for our beliefs. They aren't all lemmings. They aren't all stupid. They aren't all cowards. They see a lot of the same problems we do. They're just lazy and comfortable. Just as eating makes appetite, seeing that there are those out there actually willing to kill our enemies - that would have a significant effect.

When we talk in apolyptic terms, we eventually get declining returns. Either we mean it, or we don't.

I don't think we can rely on the System breaking down on its own. The trends are all bad and unless we reverse them will get worse. The System has shown time and time again it can ignore and mock us without consequences.

I think there need to be consequences. Until there are, we're mainly entertainment, with some soft work - some education, some information dissemination, some curriculum.

I actually think a physical revolution is quite possible. Our army is mainly good at torturing people and bombing them from the air. It is not good at fighting forces that hit and run. Look at Eric Rudolph. The FBI had hundreds of people searching for him for two years and came up with squat.

The pressure is all one way right now. The jews do illegal, immoral things and we complain about double standards. Point out how unfair it is. But there's never any redress. There is no White movement until jews and those who front for them start dying at our warriors' hands. That's why I don't allow fantasy fags to sign up at VNNF.

A little something is ginning up. We're working hard. There is more we can do. That we have not developed a K-12 curriculum for White homeschoolers is a prime example of our ineffectuality. That we still have no organization that speaks for Whites is further example.

They don't respect us, they being the jews and, say, "Fox," because our actions don't back up our rhetoric. If our cause is worth dying for, how come we aren't killing any enemies?

It's not that hard. I think that the personalities on tv, the talking heads and the analysts, are soft targets, easy to get to. And if I were to make a prediction, I'd say that's where the real revolution, the physical fighting back, is going to start.

This is but one example of how twisted the mindset is among the extremists. Those words were written by Alex Linder, the owner and founder of Vanguard News Network, an internet forum and blog inhabited by some of the most virulent racists and anti-Semitic individuals on the internet. He went on to say in a later post,

An assassination, a series of assassinations, carried out against comparatively soft (undefended) targets known to the public through their presence in the mass media, could have very positive consequences for the cause of liberating Whites from Jewish Tyranny.

Shocking? To most of us, yes. The world is truly a dangerous place. The extremists among us make it even more so.

Last October, William A. White a neo-Nazi in Roanoke, Va. whose website called for the establishment of a nation-state in which only whites have the right to citizenship and for the removal of all non-whites and Jews from the United States, was arrested for juror intimidation.

In April, Richard Poplawski, a member of Stormfront opened fire and killed three police officers in Pittsburgh. Poplawski's anti-Semitism and anti-government views were were well-documented.

Last week, Scott Roeder, a militia member and far right-wing pro-lifer shot and killed Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion doctor, as he attended church.

Also last week, Harold Turner, an anti-Semitic racist talk-show host, was arrested for threats made to two Connecticut Congressmen.

Now, Stephen Tyrone Johns lays dead after reaching out and opening the door for James von Brunn. Why? Who wins? No one.

As those on the extreme right wrap themselves in the mantle of Free Speech and the Right To Bear Arms, the rest of us are expected to accept their actions as being righteous and in the best interest of the "white race." Anything less than that acceptance will be met with a swastika and a jackboot.

The year is 2009, and the world is a very small place, growing ever smaller - and ever more violent. The threat that the right-wing extremists pose to this country and others is real and can no longer be ignored. Like any cancer - if left untreated it will spread.