Free Republic

The term “social engineering” never fit an entity better than it does the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). This intrusive, tenacious organization has spent years attempting to recast and transform American society to fit its own peculiar ideals. Its directors are missionaries in the full sense of the word, in that they relentlessly work to stamp onto the hearts and minds of the public a distinctive belief system, which teaches what is evil and what is not. This month, the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) has published an excellent analysis of the SPLC’s attack on FAIR and other immigration reform...

No amount of controversy will keep Oath Keepers from educating people about what it means to support and defend the Constitution. SNIP Started earlier this year by Las Vegas resident Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers is a nonprofit organization made up primarily of current and former police and military personnel who renew their oaths to the Constitution. Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale University Law School graduate, opened the conference at Texas Station with a warning that Washington politicians cannot be trusted to uphold their oaths to the Constitution. "That's why we have a civic duty to keep our oaths,"...

Ready to Revolt: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States Group asks police and military to lay down arms in response to orders deemed unlawful Depending on your perspective, the Oath Keepers are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia. In the age of town halls, talk radio and tea parties, middle ground of opinion is hard to find. Launched in March by Las Vegan Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers bills itself as a nonpartisan group of current and retired law enforcement and military personnel who vow to fulfill their oaths to the Constitution. More specifically,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An organization that tracks hate-group activity in the U.S. is accusing Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain, a black scholar known for her conservative stances on race and immigration, of being an apologist for white supremacists. The incident started last week when the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center posted a blog item critiquing the documentary A Conversation About Race, mentioning that positive comments by Swain lent the film an air of legitimacy. (excerpted)

Federal authorities have opened an investigation into allegations of “discriminatory policing” by the Suffolk County Police Department over how officers responded to reports of crimes against Latinos, a Justice Department spokesman said Monday. Latino residents and their advocates have accused the police in that Long Island county of systematically failing to fully investigate allegations of assaults on Latinos. After the highly publicized stabbing death of an Ecuadorean immigrant last November — prosecutors said that his attackers were driven by prejudice against Latinos — residents stepped forward with accounts of other attacks they believed were racially motivated. Some of those cases...

Police are looking for a man convicted of an Arlington rape more than 10 years ago in connection with the recent rape an 11-year-old girl in Oklahoma City. Melvin Urbina, 33, was sentenced to two years in prison for the 1998 sexual assault of an Arlington woman. He was deported to Mexico after his release in 2001. He returned to the United States illegally and worked in Oklahoma City. Police want to question Urbina about the July 25 sexual assault of a girl who was trying to find some extra chairs for the guests at her godfather’s wedding anniversary party...

A politically-skewed activist organization has warned law enforcement officials nationwide of the threat posed by the so-called “Patriot movement.” The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s Fall, 2009, issue of the “Intelligence Report” expands those designated as extremists, with alarmist language artificially combining a disparate group. The report said, “Militiamen, white supremacists, anti-Semites, nativists, tax protesters and a range of other activists of the radical right are cross-pollinating and may even be coalescing.” On the SPLC website, one report claims, "anti-government rhetoric spills into the Mainstream," listing conservative celebrities like Sean Hannity and Red State's Erick Erickson as purveyors of "white-hot...

SPLC alarm: 'Militiamen, white supremacists, anti-Semites, nativists, tax protesters coalescing' A private activist organization apparently is picking up where the federal government left off when the Department of Homeland Security issued its "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" warning that returning veterans and people in a long list of other categories were potential terrorists. Only the new warning, delivered recently to police officers, sheriffs and other law enforcement personnel across the country, is lumping those dedicated to the constitutional principles on which the nation was founded together with crazed killers. The fall 2009...

Southern Poverty Law Center smears Steve Levy, promotes lawlessness Posted by Billy Kess on Saturday, September 05, 2009 9:24:47 PM The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently put out a so-called study concluding that Long Island's Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is somehow indirectly responsible for the rash of anti-Hispanic biased crimes on Long Island. Of course, this is just  another pathetic attempt to silence the politicians who want to do something about these illegal aliens who are destroying our communities. They figure as long as they put the pressure on, not only will it get Levy to stop standing...

There are, however, other reasons why minorities seem to be more at risk of swine flu. Low-income parents have a harder time keeping their sick children home from school. "For some parents in lower-wage jobs, if they don't show up at work, they don't get paid, and people may already be on the economic margins," Barry says. "So parents were desperate to get some of these children back in school." As a result, there were many sick, contagious kids in Boston classrooms this spring. Because of the economic pressures and demographics of the Boston school system, most of them turned...

Amid the orchestrated phony protests over President Barack Obama’s health care reform efforts, a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, documents another threat to the health of the Black community and the nation’s stability: rising racism within right-wing militias. In its report entitled “Return of the Militias,” the Southern Poverty Law Center points out that the militia movement, that faded in the 1990s, is back and that “One big difference from the militia movement of the 1990s is that the face of the federal government — the enemy that almost all parts of the extreme right see...

Note: Photo and videos included. COEUR D'ALENE -- The Aryan Nations is experiencing an unwanted resurgence in North Idaho. SNIPPET: "However, a man named Paul Mullet claims he is going to bring the racist organization back." SNIPPET: "Mullet says he moved here from Ohio five months ago because North Idaho is the "last stand" for the Aryan Nations movement. Mullet says he's in the process of buying a large amount of land in the area." SNIPPET: "Monday's distribution of racist material in Spokane Valley's Trentwood neighborhood was the latest in a series of similar incidents. Aryan Nations literature has also...

The 24-page report released this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) entitled, “The Second Wave: Return of the Militia” is sweeping in its indictment. In it, police officers, soldiers, veterans, tax defiers, Patriots, tea party members, right-wing militias, “birthers” and sovereign citizen proponents are all said to exhibit elements of a resurging anti-government movement that reached it’s zenith in the mid-1990’s and spiraled out of control with violence and domestic terrorism. A number of national and local citizens groups are called out in the report — the National Rifle Association, Minutemen, Oath Keepers — as well as mainstream...

The message was clear. The sign carried by a 51-year-old man last week outside a raucous town hall meeting on healthcare in Hagerstown, Maryland, read "Death to Obama". Just to emphasise his point, a second message was also scrawled on the cardboard placard. "Death to Obama, Michelle and 2 stupid kids," it stated. Welcome to the disturbing new face of the radical right in America. Across the country, extremism is surging, inflamed by conservative talkshow hosts, encouraged by Republican leaders and propagating a series of wild conspiracy theories. Many fear it might end in tragedy. Obama has been labelled as...

Conservative groups are rejecting as "anecdotal and exaggerated" a report out of the Southern Poverty Law Center that claims the election of a black president has fanned the flames of a resurgent anti-government "militia movement." The SPLC report cited a recent rash of ideologically driven violent crimes, rising gun sales, a reported rise in the number of militia groups and level of activity and stern warnings from law enforcement officials about the potential for violence in concluding that "there are unmistakable signs of a revival" since the 1990s. The assessment said Latino immigration, and particularly the election of President Obama,...

Right-leaning groups say the evidence of a distinct rise in militia-type activity is spotty and that the Southern Poverty Law Center is unfairly lumping isolated extremists in the same category as those who are protesting the administration's economic and social policies. Conservative groups are rejecting as "anecdotal and exaggerated" a report out of the Southern Poverty Law Center that claims the election of a black president has fanned the flames of a resurgent anti-government "militia movement." The SPLC report cited a recent rash of ideologically driven violent crimes, rising gun sales, a reported rise in the number of militia groups...

Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges.

(WHERE WAS THE MEDIA WITH ALL THE BUSH DEATH THREATS!!!!???? This is ridiculous---if ANYTHING ever happened to Obama --the media will blame the right, it is a foregone conclusion--and all this because we dare stand up to this incompetent, dishonest man that is trying to reshape our country against will!) article: Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash Violent Signs, Gun, Standoff Latest in Emerging Anger Towards the President By BRIAN ROSS, ANNA SCHECTER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH August 14, 2009 Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric...

(CNN) -- An African-American man has pleaded guilty after being accused of impersonating a white supremacist in a fictitious Facebook account to make death threats against an African-American university student...Hart admitted creating the fictitious account in November, pretending to be a white supremacist outraged by the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president, the statement said.

Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth...

The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.

Depending on your perspective, the rise of private, anti-government militias represents either the very best of American patriotism or is an ominous sign of a violent future. Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report showing that the militia movement is returning to levels not seen since the 1990s, when a series of high-profile stand-offs with federal agents culminated in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. According to the SPLC, the number of people who have joined what it terms "hate groups" has increased by 54 percent...

WASHINGTON – Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the...

Bad Economy, Obama Fuel Rise in Militias: Report Fears of a return to anti-government violence of the 1990s Updated 2:15 AM CDT, Wed, Aug 12, 2009 The election of America's first black president, fears of a secret Mexican plot to take over the Southwest and a painful recession have combined to fuel a rise in violent right-wing militias, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The leading civil rights group is not the only one worried that the country could be on the verge of another domestic terror attack by a lone wolf hatemonger or radical militia...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is...

ALG Blasts DHS Methodology Used in "Rightwing Extremism" Memo Revealed in Freedom of Information Response by Department August 11th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned the methodology used by the Department of Homeland Security in issuing a controversial “right-wing extremism� threat assessment to law enforcement in April as “complete speculation.�“Our worst fears about what went into this memo have been confirmed. The government department that was supposed to be tasked with identifying domestic terrorist threats is apparently using news stories, kooky websites, and conjecture instead of actual hard intelligence reporting and analysis,� said Wilson.“This is...

Here is video last night of Bill O'Reilly defending CNN's Lou Dobbs against demands by The Southern Poverty Law Center that Dobbs be fired for his treatment of the Obama Birth Certificate issue. O'Reilly said he had investigated the issue himself a year ago a found it is "an absurd story," and "totally bogus." But O'Reilly defended Dobbs' right to free speech, and said it is not right to demand his firing just because one finds his speech offensive. O'Reilly talked with a representative of The Southern Poverty Law Center. . . . (Watch Video)

J. Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), asks CNN President in a letter dated today to remove Lou Dobbs from the airwaves. He describes Lou Dobbs reporting as “both deplorable and an embarrassment to all serious journalists.” The letter ends with: Respectable news organizations should not employ reporters willing to peddle racist conspiracy theories and false propaganda. It's time for CNN to remove Mr. Dobbs from the airwaves. The letter was prompted by Mr. Dobbs repeated questioning of the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate, despite evidence to the contrary: The truth about the president's birth...

Dear Mr. Klein [president of CNN], As an important and respected news organization, CNN has a special responsibility to ensure the accuracy of its reporting. We have written to you before about our concern that Lou Dobbs repeatedly fails to live up to this standard in his reporting on immigration. Now, Mr. Dobbs is again trading in falsehoods and racist conspiracy theories, questioning President Obama's American citizenship. On the July 15 edition of "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Mr. Dobbs questioned the official certificate provided by the president and the State of Hawaii and complained that President Obama has not made public...

The SPLC, for anyone who isn't aware, is one of the nation's premiere organizations that tracks extremists such as white supremacists and the Klan. The fact that they're weighing in on this one is very interesting. One thing that I was wondering about, before I read the letter (below), was the "so what?" factor. Meaning, yeah it's absurd to say that Obama wasn't really born in the states, but so what? We won the election, and anyone who is going to be believe Obama isn't legitimate isn't going to believe us any more if we get rid of Lou Dobbs....

Received today from Southern Poverty Law Center June 17, 2009 Dear Friend, Like you, my colleagues and I were deeply saddened by the murder of security guard Stephen Johns at the Holocaust Museum. It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes a tragic event like this to focus the nation's attention on the very real threat of domestic terrorism. At the Southern Poverty Law Center, we're working hard to track and expose extremists like the anti-Semitic fanatic who lashed out last week. In fact, in the latest issue of our Intelligence Report, we warned about a dangerous resurgence of right-wing extremism since...

Not long ago, I was leading my normal life as a policy analyst for a Washington think tank. I was writing an op-ed I hoped this paper might publish opposing “Progress by Pesach,” a campaign by Jewish organizations promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants and ending worksite immigration enforcement. I argued that legalizing millions of illegal aliens is to be complicit in overthrowing the rule of law, and increasing immigration at a time when the economy is hemorrhaging jobs displays callous disregard for the most vulnerable among us. But I’ve set that aside. The issue pales in comparison to another: A...

SPLiCing the Facts by: Bethany Stotts, May 08, 2009 The mainstream media should reevaluate where it gets its source material on hate crimes, and soon. In my article, “Right-Wing Extremism Explored,” I wrote that the oft-criticized Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report was “influenced by the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).” David E. Smith, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), asked this correspondent what role the SPLC played in such profiling, since his own organization was listed as a “hate group” by the SPLC for being “anti-gay.” While the SPLC may be embraced by mainstream media outlets...

The serial exaggerators at the radical left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center are trying to capitalize on the Department of Homeland Security report that smears Americans on the political right. That odious report quotes from the SPLC, which I've argued is ideologically motivated and unreliable. Here is the fundraising email the SPLC sent out today: April 16, 2009Dear Friend,As you may recall, we've recently documented 926 hate groups operating in the U.S. These organizations are being fueled by immigration fears, the faltering economy and the racist backlash to the election of President Obama.Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just...

The recently released Department of Homeland Security assessment of rightwing extremism represents an alarming politicization of that huge federal agency. The 10-pages document is entitled: "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." Its source is the Extremism and Radicalization Branch of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Assessment, of the Department of Homeland Security. (Imagine the size of their security badges.) Read it here. American Thinker Jim Byrd's article entitled "Is Texas A Terror State?" provides a catalogue of transgressions that cumulatively define rightwing extremism. Byrd concludes that, when measured against Governor Rick Perry...

Not long ago, I was leading my normal life as a policy analyst for a Washington think tank. I was writing an op-ed I hoped this paper might publish opposing “Progress by Pesach,” a campaign by Jewish organizations promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants and ending worksite immigration enforcement. I argued that legalizing millions of illegal aliens is to be complicit in overthrowing the rule of law, and increasing immigration at a time when the economy is hemorrhaging jobs displays callous disregard for the most vulnerable among us. But I’ve set that aside. The issue pales in comparison to another: A...

World Net Daily (WND) made a nice splash today with their posting of an article based upon a purported Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Unclassified/For Official Use Only" document titled, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." Well, now, that certainly seems ominous. But is the document for real? The genuine article? Or is this just another one of those bogus documents/statements/check-this-outs that wash in over the internet transom and are thereby foisted upon us unsuspecting loony "conservatives." Done for the sole purpose of getting us all roiled up so the lefties can have...

Jury indicts 2 in scheme to slay 88 BY JOHN KRUPA Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2008 A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted an Arkansas man and his Internet friend for plotting to launch a racially fueled killing rampage that also called for the assassination of Barack Obama. The seven counts of federal law violations are: conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee; conspiracy to transport and the transportation of a firearm across state lines; conspiracy to transport and the transportation of a short-barreled shotgun across state lines; possession of a short-barreled shotgun; and making a threat against a...

Not long ago, I was leading my normal life as a policy analyst for a Washington think tank. I was writing an op-ed I hoped this paper might publish opposing “Progress by Pesach,” a campaign by Jewish organizations promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants and ending worksite immigration enforcement. I argued that legalizing millions of illegal aliens is to be complicit in overthrowing the rule of law, and increasing immigration at a time when the economy is hemorrhaging jobs displays callous disregard for the most vulnerable among us. But I’ve set that aside. The issue pales in comparison to another: A...

NASHVILLE, March 30 (UPI) -- Members of a youth group with followers on seven U.S. college campuses say their organization is focused on protecting Western civilization. Trevor Williams and Devin Saucier said they founded a Vanderbilt University chapter of the Youth for Western Culture in order to protect the Western world from corrupting influences and not to promote racism as some of the group's critics suggest, The (Nashville) Tennessean said Monday. "We're not racists," Saucier, a Vanderbilt sophomore like Williams, said.

Threats of protest halt Pink Swastika author's scheduled talk by Temecula Valley News staff The Murrieta/Temecula Republican Assembly’s (MTRA) next meeting was scheduled to be April 3; however, that meeting and location are now in doubt as a result of threats of protest. According to MTRA president Bob Kowell, their speaker was scheduled to be Pastor Scott Lively from Abiding Truth Ministries in Massachusetts. Pastor Lively’s book, “The Pink Swastika,” has gained the attention and protest of gays and gay activists across the world. “The meeting was to be held at Temeku Hills Country Club,” said Kowell. “Temeku Country Club...

Are you on some government list as a possible "domestic terrorist" suspect because you have exercised your First Amendment right to express opposition to a government program or a proposed piece of legislation? Have you, like millions of your fellow Americans, expressed outrage over the trillions of dollars being poured into the unending series of government bailouts?Are you concerned about the escalating violence in Mexico and upset over the refusal of our government to secure our border and stop the continuing deluge of illegal aliens entering our country?Do you support the Second Amendment and oppose the prohibition, restriction, and confiscation...

About 60 people stood in the cold and gathering darkness at Annapolis' Lawyer's Mall next to the State House on President's Day, as Susan Payne attempted to place the last few protest signs. "Maryland is broken--who wants to hold this one?" asked Payne, a voluble woman who heads an organization called Citizens First. "Protect citizens--who wants to hold this sign?" The crowd, gathered to protest what they see as the growing problem of illegal immigration, was already bristling with signs with various messages--maryland democrats love illegal aliens and their votes, for instance. Another resembled a Maryland driver's license, read joe...

American Vision received a phone call from an NPR station yesterday (3.3.2009) asking me to appear on one of their shows to answer the charge by the Southern Poverty Law Center that our organization is a “hate group.” (For the record, I don’t do interviews with media outlets that are subsidized by tax dollars.) The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has listed American Vision as a “hate group” under the “other” category on their website because we are “anti-gay.’[1] I guess the majority of people in California who voted to outlaw homosexual marriage are also “haters.” Of course they are....

(CNN) -- Don Black said he despises Barack Obama. And he said he believes illegal aliens undermine the economic fabric of the United States. Black, a 55-year-old former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, isn't the only person who holds such firm beliefs, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which today released its annual hate group report. The center's report, "The Year in Hate," found the number of hate groups grew by 54 percent since 2000. The study identified 926 hate groups -- defined as groups with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people --...

Editor's Note By Mark Potok Three Washington, D.C.-based immigration-restriction organizations stand at the nexus of the American nativist movement: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA. Although on the surface they appear quite different--the first, the country's best-known anti-immigrant lobbying group; the second, an "independent" think tank; and the third, a powerful grassroots organizer--they are fruits of the same poisonous tree. FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist...

Hate groups and militias across the country, known to thrive on feelings of economic desperation and political impotence, are eyeing 2009 as a year of awakening. "Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country," said a recent posting on an Arkansas-based Ku Klux Klan Web site. "The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the rose garden." For all the racial optimism that comes with Barack Obama's presidency, there is concern in...

....> Its business is fundraising, and its success at raking in the cash is based on its ability to sell gullible people on the idea that present-day America is awash in white racism and anti-Semitism, which it will fight tooth-and-nail as the public interest law firm it purports to be. That might lead a skeptic to wonder why it spends little on litigation and why Mr. Dees pockets a lot of money sent in by panicked donors who buy into the smear campaigns against organizations or prominent individuals who question racial preference programs. ....> And as we have come to...

Three men accused of spray-painting racist and lewd graffiti on about 40 vehicles, including messages targeting President-elect Barack Obama, are not being charged with a hate crime because none of the victims were specifically targeted because of their race, a Long Island police official said Friday. The Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes, reports there have been "hundreds" of such incidents since the election, many more than usual, said its director, Mark Potok. But Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said Friday that the men who "tagged" dozens of cars on Nov. 12 "just...

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars. Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders. There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence...