VIDEO: FBI raids counties tied to Michigan militia group

By GottaLaff

Remember that Department of Homeland Security report that warned us about extremists?

So do I:

The violent right, however, is a particularly difficult problem for law enforcement. Since the early 1990s, the movement's theorists have promulgated the concept of the "unorganized resistance" conducted by "lone wolves." It's a tactic meant to prevent believers from joining organizations that undercover law enforcement agents might infiltrate. Adherents are urged to keep to themselves, to use the Internet to inform themselves and to avoid rallies where they might be photographed. They're also urged to act on their own.

At the same time, American extremists have the benefit of our lax gun laws. In most countries, would-be terrorists need to join groups in order to secure arms. Here, they can buy them by the carload at a nearby gun store. The NRA is the lone wolves' best friend.

All my previous posts on the report can be found here.

With that in mind, check out the not-Muslim, not-foreigners who are being raided:

The FBI conducted raids Saturday night in Washtenaw County and Lenawee County in an investigation involving members of Hutaree, a Christian-oriented militia group based in Lenawee County, AnnArbor.com has learned.

Other areas have been raided, too, but it is not clear if they are related. The Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are all involved in the raids, and several arrests have been made.



Not a very comforting report, is it?

Once again, we are reminded of the 1990s, Waco, and Tim McVeigh. The climate is unsettling, and the language used by Tea Baggers, Republicans, and even our own Congress members is not helping. Nor are the attacks, both physical and verbal.

We need to hang on to reason and conversation. A lot of citizens are feeling very threatened, whether it's their fear of becoming a white minority, or genuine concerns about financial burdens, taxes, health care, the list goes on.

Whatever the issues are, violence is not the answer. The media and our government officials need to step forward and take the lead in strong denunciation of the irrational actions and words that have become all too prevalent of late.

VIDEO: Ann Coulter prepares human-rights complaint

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted about Ann Coulter's speech being canceled out of concerns for public safety (hers or theirs?). The Madam's Apple would have none of that.

It might have been more interesting had the University of Ottawa just let her shoot her mouth off and then had her arrested, but now we have a new wrinkle:

Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter, who cancelled her speech to the University of Ottawa Tuesday night over fears for her safety, says she’s the victim of a hate crime under Canadian laws.

She said she’s hired Canadian conservative activist Ezra Levant to prepare a human-rights complaint that will test how equitably these hate-crime laws are applied.

Although one does have to qualify as human first, one would think. And when it comes to hate, well, I suppose we have to admit, she is an expert.

In an interview with The Globe, Ms. Coulter suggested the University of Ottawa’s provost, Francois Houle, is partly responsible for the angry crowds that opposed her speaking Tuesday night. He is the official who warned her in advance to watch what she said lest she incur criminal charges for hate speech.

The Madam had a few choice comments to make, as she's wont to do:

“I would like to know if any Muslim has been treated this badly, at least since the Reformation, because I am drawing a blank” [...]

“You guys used to be so cool. You were smokers. You had epic hockey fights. We had half our comedians from Canada. Now you’re all a bunch of girls named Francois.”

That ought to win over a few Canadian and Muslim hearts and minds.

Gosh, Ann, you're right as usual. Muslims have been treated like kings and queens. They have been put on pedestals and revered. They are never, ever treated "this badly".

By the way, the feminine, aka "girl" version is Francoise.

Via a comment from one of our Canadian readers:

Here in Canada, we do not justify hate speech in the name of freedom. When we pay thousands of tuition to our public institution, we expect them to uphold the law of the country and foster an environment that does not encourage empty headed bigots like Coulter, albeit an entertaining one. This is the same woman who stated on national tv Jews need to be perfected by accepting Christ into their life. Talk about fascistic believe in the name of religion.

Now, when America can send us a conservative with a political and intellectual discourse beyond the dark ages of Christian v. Muslim enemy dogma, we might let one speak in our universities.

Inciting hate and encouraging disenfranchising is her specialty. However, it's also worth noting that she has faded into the background some since Sarah Palin and the Tea Tantrumers started monopolizing the airwaves.

Extremism and vitriol have been amplified of late. That kind of freedom of speech is stirring up debate, which is the silver lining. It sure beats sweeping it under the carpet.

H/t: Ursula (who lives in Canada)

Domestic Terror Incidents Hit a Peak in 2009

They've got quite an extensive list on this story, but funny enough, Time Magazine doesn't seem to think non-Muslims commit domestic terrorism.

You may not have noticed because most of the plots were foiled, but 2009 saw an unprecedented surge in terror "events" on U.S. soil. When analysts tally these events, they refer to anything from a disrupted plot to U.S. citizens traveling abroad to seek terror training or a lone gunman running amok in the U.S. And by the calculations of Rand Corporation expert Brian Jenkins, more terrorist threats were uncovered in the U.S. during 2009 than in any year since 2001.

"There appears to be an increase in [terrorist] activity in the U.S.," warns Jenkins, who calculates that there have been 32 terror-related "events" on these shores since 9/11, and that 12 of those occurred in 2009.

That Marine reservist who beat a Greek priest? Here's the racy sequel

By GottaLaff

Is it hot in here or is it just Jasen? (Original post here)

Check these out. Here's a sample:

Is that a tire iron, or are you just happy to see me? Whew! Semper fi, indeed.

Too bad he's a violent, racist thug.

H/t, or should I say "hot" tip: Joeyess and TPM

Marine reservist beat Greek priest; thought he was Arab terrorist

By GottaLaff

Tampa's Welcome Wagon

UPDATE: Racy sequel here.

Have you heard the one about the priest and the tire iron? The ClusterFoxers would be proud.

TAMPA — A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said. [...]

That's why police arrested reservist Jasen D. Bruce on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Police said they're also investigating whether Bruce, 28, committed a hate crime.

The priest was on his way to bless another retired Greek priest, but got lost. He asked Jasen for help, but...

Instead of offering help, Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron, police said.

Isn't that just like a good citizen? I wonder if he's a Glenn Beck fan.

He called 911 and told them that an Arabic man tried to rob him, and that-- check this out-- he was going to take the priest into custody. When the police showed up, Tire Iron Jasen told them the priest was a terrorist.

Then officers went to Bruce's apartment to speak to the reservist again. But he already had an attorney with him and refused to speak, police said.

Yep, Brucie pre-emptively lawyered himself all up. Isn't that just like an innocent man?

Moral: Always jump to conclusions. All foreigners are terrorists. And all foreigners should be beaten with tire irons. Hold all questions until later.

It's the American way.

H/t: Joeyess

Teen beaten, robbed, a victim of hate

Yep, sure is wonderful for the black folk in "Obama's America" Mr Limbaugh.

Derrick Thomas was on his bike with home in his sights, returning about 1 a.m. Wednesday from hanging out with his girlfriend and cousin in Brooklyn Park.

Before he knew to be terrified, Thomas, who has autism, found himself flying over his handlebars and writhing on his back on the concrete. Standing over him, he said, were three men armed with an ax, brass knuckles and a gun.

They beat and kicked the 18-year-old while screaming a racial epithet, and they ordered him to strip naked, he told police. Then they robbed him of everything he had, including his Air Jordans, blue jeans and shirt. Police said Thomas has a mental capacity of someone 8 to 10 years old.

"They were saying stuff like, 'We hate the president; we're gonna kill the president, his wife and his kids,'" Thomas recalled from his front stoop Friday, his left eye puffy and discolored. "They said every black person that comes through our park, we're gonna kick their butt. We don't like black people, period."

The assault, and another on a second black man -- Thomas' uncle -- just blocks away, led authorities Friday to file assault and robbery charges against Anthony P. Kilpela and Bryan C. Westerlund, both 21 and both white, of Minneapolis.

(snip)

The alleged comments about the Obamas drew the attention of the Secret Service, whose agents interviewed Thomas on Friday, according to his family.

Pic via Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune

VIDEO: Black Woman Assaulted By White Man At Cracker Barrel Interviewed

By GottaLaff

Between this and the Holocaust survivor/Obama = Hitler incident, it feels like this country is imploding:



Paddy posted the back story here. Beyond awful:

From CNN's Rick Sanchez: Troy Dale West Jr., of Poulan, Georgia, is facing charges including misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct after allegedly beating African American Army reservist Tashawnea Hill, 35, after the two had words at the entrance of the Morrow, Georgia, Cracker Barrel restaurant the evening of September 9, 2009

This was brutal. The FBI is investigating this as a potential hate crime. Good.

As Paddy said earlier, what ever happened to the Rushpublic "support the troops" mantra in this case, hmmm? Do you hear anything from them on her behalf? No? Of course not. Why not?

Hint: She's black. Probably a fascist, socialist, communist, birth certificateless Nazi from Kenya, too.

FBI investigating beating as possible hate crime

Noise everywhere about a school bullying incident and not a peep about this. Where's that vaunted conservative value "Support The Troops" in this? Via Steven D.

Tashawnea Hill said she was punched and kicked so hard a week ago that her head still hurts.

"I have knots on my head," Hill, 35, told CNN Wednesday.

Troy Dale West Jr., was arrested for kicking Hill and yelling racial slurs at her in front of a Morrow Cracker Barrel. West is out of jail, having posted a $12,150 bond.

Police charged him with beating Hill, an army reservist, in front of her 7-year-old daughter.

Police said witnesses, as well as a surveillance video, have confirmed her account, which the FBI is investigating as a possible hate crime.

West is white. The woman is black.

A police report said West admitted striking Hill "after she spit on me and accused me of trying to hit her daughter with a door." Hill's attorney Kip Jones told CNN that did not happen.

Jones also told CNN he was "convinced this was a hateful, racist attack ... based on the N-word, the B-word, etc."

Hatred and the far right

By GottaLaff

Nightmare, indeed:

We're not talking here about mere conservative Republicans. This is the lunatic right, for whom the election of Barack Obama was much more than a political defeat: It was a racial and existential nightmare. If he can succeed, if no catastrophe or deprivation of rights ensues, then these people have feared and plotted and hated in vain. [...]

Still, it's clear that something is stirring this peculiarly American cesspool in ways that haven't occurred since the mid-1990s, when an upsurge in activity among so-called militia groups culminated in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the deadliest terrorist incident on American soil until 9/11.

Rumors that the new Obama administration secretly planned to seize people's firearms surged through the Internet, which nowadays links extremists like a kind of fevered nervous system, and fueled a run on gun stores that stock assault weapons. [...]

The violent right, however, is a particularly difficult problem for law enforcement. Since the early 1990s, the movement's theorists have promulgated the concept of the "unorganized resistance" conducted by "lone wolves." It's a tactic meant to prevent believers from joining organizations that undercover law enforcement agents might infiltrate. Adherents are urged to keep to themselves, to use the Internet to inform themselves and to avoid rallies where they might be photographed. They're also urged to act on their own.

At the same time, American extremists have the benefit of our lax gun laws. In most countries, would-be terrorists need to join groups in order to secure arms. Here, they can buy them by the carload at a nearby gun store. The NRA is the lone wolves' best friend.

Two months ago, the Republican National Committee and many conservative commentators went into paroxysms of rage over a report by the Department of Homeland Security drawing attention to the potential terrorist threat of resurgent right-wing extremism. The department ended up apologizing for noting the extremist underground's attempts to recruit returning military personnel. (All three of the men involved in the Oklahoma City bombing met and developed their convictions while serving in the Army.) As the body count mounts, the department may want to reconsider that apology.

Hate means never having to say you're sorry.

Video- Real Time With Bill Maher June 11, 2009 Panel

Fran Townshend sounds like a total tool. This woman was in charge of DHS? Oy.

Tancredo Staffer Pleads Guilty to Karate-Chopping Black Woman, called her "nigger"

By GottaLaff

(to see enlarged image, go here)

Here is my original post about this whack job and his little antics. Now this open-minded, loving, sweetheart of a--- oh, sorry. I meant to say, this repulsive, sicko, violent racist has entered plea of guilty:

Epstein has been targeted for years by civil rights groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the One People’s Project, who have obtained Epstein’s guilty plea to a hate crime he committed two years ago.

From the U.S. Attorney’s factual proffer:

On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, “Nigger,” as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]’s head.

Epstein has pled guilty and will be sentenced on July 8, although he changed his plea to water down an admission of guilt into the belief that “the government could prove me guilty.” [...]

Tancredo has taken a large public role in criticizing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, telling MSNBC that the judge “appears to be a racist.”

Rep. King: Hate crimes law makes gays 'sacred cows' and puts 'victimizer's focus on someone else'

Is the real reason they are against a hate crimes bill just that they don't want to have to stop publicly hating? OTOH, I'd love to see those gay sacred cows. Via Think Progress.

Republicans Reach Bottom Of Barrel, Keep Digging

This is the "ad" they put out in the fight against the Hate Crimes Bill aka The Matthew Shepard Act. You know, the one that Virginny Foxx is all aflutter over. What Pam said-

The fact is that during debate over this bill the GOP tried to add all sorts of demographic groups that also haven't been the target of hate crimes, like pregnant women, senior citizens, etc. in order to try to derail the legislation -- it didn't work. But you see, 2010 is coming up quickly and the party has no ideas to help out Congressional candidates.

Considering the party's history of enabling and even promoting the pedophiles, rapists, serial adulterers, and sexual predators in its midst, all while projecting piety, it would be refreshing to see the Republicans to actually try to win on the issues. However, this level of desperation shows that they don't think they can sell their ideas to anyone, so it's back to the tried-and-true, garden variety extremist scare-tactic, fear-and-smear lies.

Michigan Democratic Club vandalized

Saw it on the teevee just now- they spray painted the racist version of screw black people. The head Dem they had talking did good though, with a "We're trying to pull people together, not tear them apart with hate language" bit.

Buchanan police are investigating racially-oriented graffiti left on a politically connected building.

An employee found the graffiti outside the Buchanan Democratic Club Saturday morning, and police were alerted.

Vandals left a spray painted swastika along with derogatory remarks, police said.

The graffiti was quickly cleaned off. There are no suspects.

VIDEO-- Lawsuits: Chicago cops engaged in election night hate crimes

By GottaLaff

This video is from CBS 2 Chicago.

Why?

As the Illinois senator ascended to the highest office in the United States, a family on Chicago's west end allegedly met the business end of racial hatred enshrined by law. The family is suing the Chicago police department.

Niger Arnold claims that as her neighbors celebrated Obama's election in the streets, police fired pepper spray into the crowd. As she and her family scrambled indoors, five white officers burst into her home with guns drawn.

She claims that no reason for the forcible intrusion was given, and instead the officers cursed at her, and made racist remarks.

CBS 2 has more details here.

Deer Head Left Outside Obama Campaign Office

Your morning dose of hate. Not to mention an Obama sign being defaced with a racial slur in my neck of the woods.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Colorado Springs police said a deer head found in the parking lot of a Barack Obama campaign office is "a very disturbing event" that is being investigated as a threat.

"We're certainly concerned that someone would do something so ridiculous," said Lt. David Whitlock, a police spokeswoman.

Whitlock said the deer's antlers were cut off to make the head resemble a donkey, the Democratic Party's emblem. (ed note- Wha?) Police said campaign volunteers found the head Saturday night at the office at 218 S. Limit St. They first thought it was a mule or horse head.

Colorado John McCain spokesman Tom Kise called the incident "despicable."

Muslim McCain Fans Confront Intolerance At Rally

Bravo. Via Jed.

Tires slashed during Obama rally

Just heard Limpballs on MSNBC frothing up the peasants some more. We'll be lucky if no one is killed before this shit is over.

Someone slashed the tires of at least 30 vehicles parked outside the Crown Coliseum on Sunday during a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating. The tires were cut while people were inside the Crown Coliseum listening to speeches, said Maj. E. Wright of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

h/t astral66

Related- Obama supporters business defaced with N word and swastikas.

David Gergen talks about anger at McCain Rally

More of the piece last night on AC 360. Script via John Cole.

GERGEN: This—I think one of the most striking things we’ve seen now in the last few day. We’ve seen it in a Palin rally. We saw it at the McCain rally today. And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we’re not far from that.

COOPER: Really?

GERGEN: I think it’s so—well, I really worry when we get people—when you get the kind of rhetoric that you’re getting at these rallies now. I think it’s really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down. And that’s why I’ve argued not only because of the question of the ugliness of it.

Tennesee Church Killing Was An Anti-Liberal Christian Terrorist Act

You know we all thought it was. The sheriff is having a news conference right now. Background here by a Kossack member of the church that was attacked. News story here, more as I get it.

Only question is how long before the Fundies make him a hero like Eric Rudolph?

Sad update- per this diarist at Kos, Fox is the only news channel that didn't carry the news conference. I wonder why.

More recent update here.