FBI Arrests White Nationalist Leader

Hate crimes committed by far right groups and white supremacists are on the rise yet Trump and Republicans are depicting Democrats as a "dangerous mob."  It is part and parcel with the campaign of fanning racial fears that put Trump in the White House.  Sadly, his supporters can nothing about the truth and seem only too happy to disseminate outlandish posts that have the look of deriving from Russian bots (I just "unfriended" two people on Facebook because I could not stand seeing the utterly batshit crazy and racist stuff they were parroting).   Demonstrating were the true threat to civil order is really coming from, the FBI has arrested a number of white nationalists who have engaged in the behavior Trump pretends to condemn notwithstanding the incendiary rants at his "campaign rallies" which look like smaller versions of Hitler's infamous Nuremberg rally.  A piece in the New York Times looks at some of these arrests.  Here are excerpts:

The F.B.I. arrested the leader of a violent California neo-Nazi gang on a federal conspiracy charge after he fled the country earlier this month.

Robert Rundo, 28, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is being held at the federal jail in downtown Los Angeles. He was charged in a criminal complaint that was unsealed Tuesday.

He is the founder of the Rise Above Movement, a neo-Nazi gang based in Southern California whose members were involved in violent activity at protests throughout California in 2017. He and three other Californians associated with the group — Robert Boman, 25, Tyler Laube, 22, and Aaron Eason, 38 — were charged with inciting riots, according to court documents. Mr. Boman and Mr. Laube were arrested on Tuesday morning in Southern California. The F.B.I. said it was still searching for Mr. Eason.

Earlier this month, another four members of the Rise Above Movement — Benjamin Daley, Michael Miselis, Thomas Gillen and Cole White — were indicted on conspiracy to riot charges for attacking counterprotesters during last year’s Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. Mr. Rundo left the country shortly after the four were arrested at the beginning of the month.

The F.B.I. said that Mr. Rundo and other members of the group attacked protesters in 2017 in several places, including Huntington Beach, Calif.; the University of California, Berkeley campus; San Bernardino, Calif.; and Charlottesville, Va. The criminal complaint outlined the group’s hateful ideology and its embrace of violence.

At a rally on March 25, 2017, in Huntington Beach, Mr. Laube grabbed a journalist and punched him in the face three times, according to videos of the incident that the F.B.I. referenced in the complaint. During the same rally, the F.B.I. said videos showed that Mr. Rundo punched one protester in the back of the head, and then assaulted a second protester.

Later that same day, Mr. Daley, who was at the rally, sent a text message to another member of the group bragging about the incident: “Front page of the stormer we did it fam.” The stormer is a reference to “The Daily Stormer,” the neo-Nazi website.

In April 2017, Mr. Rundo and others traveled to Berkeley, Calif. Video referenced in the complaint showed the men taping their hands in preparation for fighting and wearing skeleton masks. Mr. Boman is also seen punching at least two people. Mr. Rundo later attacked another protester and then punched a Berkeley police officer twice in the head before he was subdued and arrested.

The F.B.I. said that Mr. Rundo and other gang members used the internet “to prepare to incite and participate in violence” at various political events and committed violent assaults while at those events. The F.B.I. added that the men applauded each other for the attacks and “publicly documented their assaults in order to recruit more members” to carry out violence.

Before founding the Rise Above Movement, Mr. Rundo served 20 months in a New York State prison for stabbing a rival gang member from MS-13 in a 2009 attack in Flushing, Queens. At the time, he was part of a small, multiracial neighborhood gang called the Original Flushing Crew, which was in a feud with a subset of MS-13, known as the Guanacos Little Cycos Salvatruchas, according to a 2012 federal indictment.

Since creating his movement sometime around 2017, Mr. Rundo has established ties between the group and the West Coast chapter of the Hammerskins, an international network of neo-Nazi skinheads whose members have been involved in at least nine murders in four states.

Earlier this year, Mr. Rundo traveled to Europe with members of his group in order to participate in mixed-martial arts tournaments hosted by neo-Nazi organizations in Germany and Ukraine. While in Europe, the F.B.I. said that Mr. Rundo and others celebrated Adolf Hitler’s birthday and met with European white supremacists.

Frightening to say the least.  And these dangerous individuals are part of the Trump/Pence regime's base.

Goose-Steppers in the Republican Party

I honestly try to not post about Donald Trump everyday, but it is near impossible given Trump's continued outrageous racist statements, the rest of the GOP political hierarchy's failure to fully repudiate his agenda, and the ugliness of the party base that is perhaps finally being made open to public view.  When Neo-Nazi extremists are applauding and major party candidate and rallying around him, you realize that the party in question may be past the point of no return.  I have long criticized the GOP for welcoming in Christofascists who have turned the party into a sectarian lunatic asylum.  But to now welcome in Neo-Nazi's and white supremacist extremists confirms that the party has completely succumbed to swamp fever.  A column in the New York Times looks at this disturbing phenomenon.  Here are highlights:

Well, he’s got the Hitler vote. The neo-Nazi website, Daily Stormer, was out and proud earlier this week: “Heil Donald Trump — the Ultimate Savior.” After endorsing the Republican presidential front-runner earlier this year for his call to deport 11 million Mexican immigrants, the fomenters of American fascism have now added an apt twist to his slogan, one not far from the truth of the campaign: “Make America White Again.”

Nazis — I hate these guys. Oh, but they’re a tiny minority of pink-faced malcontents living in basements with the widows taped up. Everybody hates them. Add to that supporters of the Ku Klux Klan, who’ve thrown in with Trump as well. David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Klan, liked everything he heard from Trump this week, embracing him for standing up for white nationalism.

It’s a very ugly political moment, but there it is: The Republican Party is now home to millions of people who would throw out the Constitution, welcome a police state against Latinos and Muslims, and enforce a religious test for entry into a country built by people fleeing religious persecution. This stuff polls well in their party, even if the Bill of Rights does not.

Trump’s proposal — “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” — is not just flotsam from the lunatic fringe. Well, it is. But the fringe is huge: Early polls show a plurality of Republican voters agree with Trump on banning all Muslims. And many would go even further.

Trump himself doesn’t seem to care about comparisons to the buffoonish (Mussolini), the truly scary (the evil one admired by the Daily Stormer) or the fictional — worse than Voldemort, as J. K. Rowling tweeted.

He sloughed off the fascism talk by associating his proposal with the internment in America of the Japanese during World War II. There’s a winning thought. I was wondering when he was going to get around to alienating Asian-Americans, the highest-earning, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States, according to Pew.

To review: He started with “the blacks,” through his smear campaign on the citizenship of the nation’s first African-American president. Moved on to Mexicans, war veterans, women who look less than flawless in middle age, the disabled, all Muslims and now people whose grandparents were rousted from their American homes and put in camps.

His supporters, most of them, do not see the shadow of the Reich when they look in the mirror. They are white, lower middle class, with little education beyond high school. The global economy has run them over. They don’t recognize their country. And they need a villain.

Trump has no solutions for the desperate angst of his followers. Tearing up trade agreements is not going to happen. Deporting workers who pick our fruit and hang sheetrock is not going to lift the fortunes of those who will no longer do those jobs. Barring all Muslims will not make us safer.

What he’s done is to give marginalized Americans permission to hate. He doesn’t use dog whistles or code. His bigotry is overt. But the table was set by years of dog whistles and code. The very “un-American” sentiment that Republican elders now claim to despise has been a mainstay of conservative media for at least a decade.

[I]t’s hard to take seriously House Speaker Paul Ryan’s rare objection to a lunatic suggestion from his party’s presidential front-runner when he says he would also back Trump should he be the nominee. . . . the only way to get rid of the goose-steppers drawn to the G.O.P. is to vow to never support the man giving them something to march to.

Many of us thought a Trump campaign would provide entertainment.  Now, it is becoming something frightening.  What's most frightening is Trumps supporters and the levels of hatred they harbor.

When It Comes to Homophobia, Not Much Separates Neo-Nazis and Conservative Christians

I have frequently maintained that there is little difference between Conservative Christians and Neo-Nazis and/or white supremacists.  All of the foregoing groups are motivated by hatred towards others and they display an intense need for others to inferior in order to placate their own sick psychological needs.  An article in Politicususa compares the tacitly state sanctioned Neo-Nazi violence against gays in Russia with the actions of concervative Christians in America.  The similarities are striking.  The only thing that differs is the level of violence.  Here are article excerpts:

Now that the charade of Phil Robertson’s pretend suspension is over, homophobes nationwide can rest assured that their “right” to spread hate is preserved and the corporate sponsors of Duck Dynasty will profit handsomely.

Meanwhile, another television star in another land told his audience that he would love to burn gays in ovens.  In the same land, Neo-Nazis lure gay teenagers and young men for “dates” that involve torture on video and up-loading the video to YouTube in the hope of “outing” the gay person to their school, friends and family. Of course, it isn’t merely about the humiliation of being outed.  It’s more about leaving the implementation of a ‘final solution‘  to others.

Being outed in a small city or village in Russia very often means death,” says Larry Poltavtsev of the Spectrum Human Rights Alliance, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group for gay rights in Eastern Europe. “Exposed teenagers may commit suicide, or they’ll be harassed by your peers, their parents may kick them out of their house. It’s a nightmare.

Not surprisingly, the Russian government looks the other way as Russia’s Neo-Nazis traumatize LGBT teens, with many of them committing suicide.  It isn’t surprising that Neo-Nazis see these laws (and the hateful rhetoric by Russian lawmakers) as permission for their method of cleansing the gay away. 

“The latest laws against so-called gay propaganda… have essentially legalized violence against LGBT people, because these groups of hooligans justify their actions with these laws,“  Igor Kochetkov, of the Russian LGBT Network, told the Guardian earlier this year. “With this legislation, the government said that, yes gays and lesbians are not valued as a social group.

One can point to the fact that Russia is so different from the United States.  After all, we don’t lock up people for criticizing the government, as occurs to critics of Putin and his “favorite project.”

We don’t have anti gay propaganda laws.  We have conservatives who oppose anti-bullying laws because they suppress a homophobe’s right to bully a member of the LGBT community straight.

However, many Religious Right activists want to derail efforts to combat bullying. An increasing number of conservative leaders and organizations have fiercely opposed anti-bullying programs developed by schools and education groups for the sole reason that such programs identify and attempt to combat the widespread bullying of LGBT youth.

Conservatives also have a long policy agenda that is decidedly anti-LGBT . . . .  If some of those followers “interpret” Phil Robertson’s comments or those of other conservatives as permission to bully, assault or kill someone who is gay or “looks” gay, conservatives can always say it isn’t their fault someone took their message the wrong way.

The approach may be different, but the message and objectives are the same.  When they aren’t invoking fear of Russia’s influence on matters like Syria, conservatives hero worship Putin for his anti- gay “propaganda” laws, and probably applaud the neo-Nazis for doing their bit to scare LGBT teens straight.  They’re also hoping you won’t notice that the original Nazis, like their succcesors, were just as anti-gay as the Tea Party and other “conservatives.”  After all, connecting those dots would reveal the hubris of their Liberalism is Nazism meme.

Sikh Temple Shooter Wanted "Racial Holy War"

More disturbing information continues to come out about Wade Michael Page, the shooter in the Sikh temple attack over the weekend.  What's equal disturbing is that Page took the anti-immigrant and anti-non-Christian rhetoric of the far right, the "family values" organizations and many in the Republican Party to its logical conclusion if one believes claims that these people - not to mention the equally hated gays - are out to destroy "Christian America."  One can only hope that this horrible incident will make the general populace wake up to the consequences of the nonstop hate and inflammatory speech coming from the right and politicians like Michele Bachmann.  Here's a chilling highlight from the latest CNN coverage of the shootings on Sunday:

Investigators spent Monday trying to figure out what led 40-year-old Wade Michael Page from repairing missiles for the Army to a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, where he was killed by police at the end of a Sunday morning rampage.

Christopher Robillard of Oregon, who described Page as "my closest friend" in the service more than a decade ago, said Page was pushed out of the military for showing up to formation drunk.  .   .   .   .  But even then, Page "was involved with white supremacy," Robillard said.  "He would talk about the racial holy war, like he wanted it to come," Robillard said. "But to me, he didn't seem like the type of person to go out and hurt people."

Robillard said he knows Page's name will now be inextricably linked with hate and bloodshed, "but that's not how I remember him."  "It's the racial holy war talk I always took as something he would vent about, and not act on it," he said. "I never pictured him as someone who would do anything. I thought maybe he was just saying it for attention."

Then the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has these scary highlights:

Fred Allen Lucas, a Bloomington, Ind., man who served with Page at Fort Bragg, N.C., in a psychological operations battalion, recalled that he spoke of the need for securing a homeland for white people and referred to all non-whites as "dirt people."  "It didn't matter if they were black, Indian, Native American, Latin - he hated them all," Lucas said.

At the time, Lucas said, Page was covered with tattoos, including one that made a reference to the "14 words," a phrase used by white supremacists: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

"He criticized me for my attraction to (Latina) women," Lucas said. "He'd call me a 'race-traitor.' He said I should change my ways because I was a blond-haired, blue-eyed white guy, and I shouldn't be wasting myself on that."

The newspaper quoted general manager John Tew as saying that, after Page was fired, he found an application for joining the Ku Klux Klan on Page's desk.

Sikh Temple Shooter Was Member of Skinhead Band; Had White Supremacy Ties

UPDATE #2: USA Today has some more statements from the SPLC:

Heidi Beirich, director of the [SPLC] center's intelligence project, tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her group had been tracking Page since 2000, when he tried to purchase goods from the National Alliance, a well-known hate group.

Beirich says there was "no question" Page was an ardent follower and believer in the white supremacist movement. She said her center had evidence that he attended "hate events" around the country.  "He was involved in the scene," she said.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece has more:

Also on Monday, a volunteer human-rights group called Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) found links between Page, his band and a white supremacist website called Stormfront. 

Jeffrey Imm, who heads R.E.A.L., said in an interview Monday that someone based in Milwaukee using the name "End Apathy" began posting on the website in February 2008. Additionally, appearances by Page's band were promoted on the Stormfront site, including a white supremacist gathering in March 2012 in Richmond, Va.

Stormfront describes its mission as follows:

Stormfront is a resource for those courageous men and women fighting to preserve their White Western culture, ideals and freedom of speech and association—a forum for planning strategies and forming political and social groups to ensure victory.

It will definitely be interesting to watch the hate merchants of the "family values" organizations and GOP fringe groups try to distance themselves from this heinous crime and Page's anti-immigrant dogma that mirrors their own.

 
UPDATED: Wade Page's band still has a page on My Space. The image above is from that page.

The far right websites are going to be REALLY, REALLY unhappy with information just released by the Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC")which tracts neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups (not to mention anti-gay hate groups like Family Research Council, The American Family Association and other organizations to whom GOP candidates prostitute themselves).  Per a SPLC bulletin, the Sikh temple shooter,Wade Michael Page (pictured at right), was an apparent neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a now defunct racist white-power band.  Words do matter and words do have consequences and people like Page are motivated by the constant litany of hate that comes from the far right and GOP demagogues.  Here are bulletin highlights:

The man who allegedly murdered six people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee yesterday, identified in media reports as Wade Michael Page, was a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band.

In 2010, Page, then the leader of the band End Apathy, gave an interview to the white supremacist website Label 56. He said that when he started the band in 2005, its name reflected his wish to “figure out how to end people’s apathetic ways” and start “moving forward.”

Page told the website that he had been a part of the white power music scene since 2000, when he left his native Colorado on a motorcycle. He attended white power concerts in Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Colorado.  At various times, he said, he also played in the hate rock bands Youngland (2001-2003), Celtic Warrior, Radikahl, Max Resist, Intimidation One, Aggressive Force and Blue Eyed Devils. End Apathy, he said, included “Brent” on bass and “Ozzie” on drums; the men were former members of Definite Hate and another band, 13 Knots.

In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center had found that Page also attempted to purchase goods from the neo-Nazi National Alliance, then America’s most important hate group.

 Why do I suspect that Page was likely a fan of Michele Bachmann?

Raul Castro Backs Gay Rights

Mariela Castro leads a Gay Rights march in Havana

Yes, you read the post caption correctly - the leader of Cuba has become more more supportive of equality for LGBT people than the presumptive leader of the Republican Party.  While most of the world marches towards the future, Romney and the GOP march backwards in time.   I guess Mitt longs for the days when he had the "freedom" to bully and terrorize gay students and the Christianist base of the GOP most certainly longs for the days when they could openly and sometimes violently discriminate against all minorities with impunity.  It's a f*cked version of "freedom," but hey, welcome to today's Republican Party.  After speaking at Liberty University yesterday, one has to wonder how soon it will be before Romney speaks before KKK, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups and gatherings.  Here are highlights from ABC News on events in Cuba: 

Cuban president Raul Castro backs greater gay rights and ending discrimination against homosexuals, his daughter Mariela, a famed sexologist, said during a colourful gay rights march in Havana.  Traditionally stigmatised in Cuba, homosexuality was fiercely repressed for many years by the regime, which interned homosexuals in work camps in the 1960s and ostracized them in the 1970s under the rule of Fidel Castro.

Mariela Castro runs Cuba's National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX) and is an outspoken advocate for the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals in Communist-ruled Cuba.

Ms Castro is pushing for passage of legislation that would legalize same-sex unions, but stops short of endorsing gay marriage.  She is hopeful that politicians will take up the bill sometime this year.

The president's daughter led a colourful conga line that was part of a march through the streets of Havana attended by about 400 transvestites as part of festivities marking the Fifth Cuban Day Against Homophobia.
 

In January, Cuba's Communist Party Congress resolved "to fight against all forms of discrimination, including against sexual discrimination, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sexual identity."  "It's a hugely important first step," Ms Castro said earlier this week.

The Washington Post also has coverage on events in Havana and here are excerpts:

The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro said during a rousing gay rights march Saturday that her father advocated eliminating sexual discrimination, and reiterated her own hope the country would soon legalize same sex marriage.

Mariela Castro, a noted gay rights advocate and head of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, also repeated her praise for U.S. President Barack Obama’s public remarks in favor of same sex marriage, saying the American leader’s words “have great value because of the influence they might have” on others.

Somehow I don't think we'll see Ann Romney or any GOP figure supporting the equal humanity of all people any time soon.

Billy Graham and Neo-Nazi Group Endorse Amendment One

For many years Billy Graham has managed to maintain an apparently false image that he's not an extreme gay hating bigot.  Or at least he did so until today when he came out in support of North Carolina's heinous anti-gay Amendment One.  Highlighting the extent of Graham's bigotry was another announcement of support for Amendment One by Neo-Nazi and white supremacist site World-Wide White Pride.  One can only hope that Graham's legacy will become irrevocably associated with his actions today and that he will seen by future generations as no better than the segregationists of fifty years ago.  Here are highlights from the Charlotte Observer on Graham's belated coming out as a flaming gay hating bigot:

The Rev. Billy Graham urged North Carolina voters Wednesday to support an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage, a move that an observer said was highly unusual but another said was in keeping with the minister's moral beliefs.

His complete statement about Amendment One will be part of full-page ads slated to appear in 14 North Carolina newspapers throughout the weekend.  Graham's statement was issued by the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which is led by Graham's son, the Rev. Franklin Graham. Franklin Graham recorded a message last month in support of Amendment One, which is on the ballot in the election Tuesday.

William Martin, who wrote the authorized Graham biography "A Prophet With Honor," couldn't recall another effort by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association like the one the ministry plans in support of Amendment One.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/02/3214145/billy-graham-backs-nc-anti-gay.html#storylink=cpy

"I am somewhat surprised that he would take that strong a stand," said Martin, professor emeritus of religion and public policy at Rice University. "In the past, I have heard him say with respect to homosexuality, there are greater sins. Franklin has been more outspoken about it, but it sounds as if this is Mr. Graham expressing his own will."

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/02/3214145/billy-graham-backs-nc-anti-gay.html#storylink=cpy

If this is truly Graham's view point - and not that of his far sleazier son, Franklin, then I believe he's buying himself a reserved seat in Hell, if Hell exists, where he will be amongst scores of the "godly Christina" crowd.  One also cannot help but wonder how many of the ranks of the poor and homeless could have been helped with the funds being used to pay for this 14 messages of bigotry.  Why is the phrase "modern day Pharisee" springing to mind?

I did mention another announcement of support for Amendment One which demonstrates the company in which Billy Graham and homophobes like him have yoked themselves.  Joe.My.God and Pam's House Blend both have coverage on the Neo-Nazi support Amendment One is garnering.  Here are Joe's thoughts on the issue:

Neo-Nazi and white supremacist site World-Wide White Pride today happily posted the report that North Carolina's Amendment One was actually written to prevent the Caucasian race from extinction. There's no apparent editorializing on their link-heavy post on this latest scandal, which since yesterday has moved into the mainstream media. But I think it's safe to call this a Nazi endorsement.

To recap, Amendment One is supported by child abusers, shotgun-toting creeps, racists, AND Nazis. All we need now is a serial killer for a royal fucking flush in Evil Poker.

Such is the company now kept by self-congratulatory Christianists and the professional Christian crowd.  WWJD?

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/02/3214145/billy-graham-backs-nc-anti-gay.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/02/3214145/billy-graham-backs-nc-anti-gay.html#storylink=cpy

Armed Neo-Nazis Now Patrolling Sanford, Florida

While pundits on the right have jumped to the defense of George Zimmerman - the shooter in the Trayvon Martin killing - some of their extreme political have gone even further. Now armed members of National Socialist Movement have fielded armed members to patrol in Sanford, Florida, to "protect white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety"- even as the conservative pundits and NRA supporters say that its blacks and liberals who are blowing the shooting of Martin out of proportion. Here's what the Southern Poverty Law Center says in part about the National Socialist Movement:

NSM ideology mirrors that of the original American Nazi Party. The group openly idolizes Adolf Hitler, described in NSM propaganda as, “Our Fuhrer, the beloved Holy Father of our age … a visionary in every respect.” NSM says only heterosexual “pure-blood whites” should be allowed U.S. citizenship and that all nonwhites should be deported, regardless of legal status. As Schoep put it: “The Constitution was written by white men alone. Therefore, it was intended for whites alone.”

One cannot help but ask WTF is going on in Sanford. Here are highlights from the Miami New Times on the activities of these self-avowed racists in Sanford (something makes me suspect these folks are exactly gay friendly either):

Neo-Nazis are currently conducting heavily armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida and are "prepared" for violence in the case of a race riot. The patrols are to protect "white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety" in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting last month, says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement. "We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it," he says. "We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over."

Because nothing diffuses racial tension like gun-toting racial separatists patrolling an already on-edge community. Schoep, whose neo-Nazi group is based in Detroit, tells Riptide the patrols are a response to white residents' fears of a race riot.

The patrols are comprised of between 10 and 20 locals and "volunteers" from across the state, including some from Miami, he added. He couldn't go into specifics on what kind of firepower, exactly, the patrols had with them. . . . Asked if the patrols wouldn't just make things worse -- spark a race riot, for instance -- Schoep insisted they were simply a "show of solidarity with the white community down there" and "wouldn't intimidate anybody."

To some, sending in the storm troops seems like a sure way to incite -- not prevent -- a race riot. But Schoep says that's way off base.

"We don't wish for things like that," he says. "But there have been race riots in Detroit and L.A... So we know those types of things happen." "You can either be prepared or you can be blindsided," he adds. "This way, if something were to touch off a race riot, we'd already be in the area."

Ironically, Schoep cites actions by Al Sharpton, but I don't recall ever seeing Sharpton and those at rallies with him carrying automatic assault rifles. True, there are extremists on the left, but these folks are truly scary and in my opinion a strong argument for strict gun control laws. No one needs to be walking around with automatic assault rifles.

Trial of Larry King Murderer to Begin

At long last the trial of Brandon McInerney, the 14 year old who brought a gun to school with premeditation and shot classmate Larry King in the back of the head, is about to begin. In a display of just how sleazy and unethical some criminal defense attorneys can be, McInerney's attorneys plan on possibly using a "gay panic defense." A defense that even though bogus requires a "in the heat of the moment" context. Never mind that McInerney planned ahead, brought a gun to school, positioned himself directly behind King during a morning computer class and fired twice into the back of Larry King's head. Frankly, in my opinion, if defense counsel try that shameless defense, disbarment would be to lenient a punishment. The Los Angeles Times looks at the upcoming trial and has these highlights:
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When he was just 14, Brandon McInerney walked into an Oxnard classroom, took his seat, pulled a .22-caliber handgun out of his backpack and shot the student sitting in front of him. Then he tossed the weapon to the floor and walked out. The victim, Lawrence King, was an openly gay student who McInerney reportedly thought had a crush on him.
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Prosecutor Maeve Fox says she will outline a straightforward case in opening arguments set to begin Tuesday in a Chatsworth courtroom. The Oxnard teenager carefully planned and carried out the Feb. 12, 2008, execution of his eighth-grade classmate, she said. He brought a gun to school, positioned himself directly behind King during a morning computer class and fired twice into the back of the 15-year-old's head.
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McInerney is being tried in adult court under the provisions of Proposition 21, which allows prosecutors to bring murder charges against juveniles as young as 14 for certain serious crimes. McInerney's lawyers, Scott Wippert and Robyn Bramson, say their client doesn't deny the killing. But they argue it was voluntary manslaughter because the adolescent was provoked by King's repeated sexual advances.
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A voluntary manslaughter conviction would prevent a life sentence, Wippert said, making McInerney eligible for release before he's 40. Even a finding of second-degree murder would virtually assure that he wouldn't be eligible for parole until he was in his 70s, his lawyers said.
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The defense could face a challenge in portraying McInerney as a naive youth. At the time of the shooting, he looked young and sweet-faced. In court recently, the defendant was a tall, lanky young man dressed in crisp Oxford shirts and khaki pants.

Neo-Nazi Leading Anti-Immigrant Patrols in Arizona

The putrid swamp that is now the Republican Party just seems to be getting nastier and nastier. Jumping in to enforce Arizona's new GOP backed immigration law - which is supported by whack job Virginia attorney General Ken Cuccinelli - are the neo-Nazis. Yep, that segment of society is apparently becoming a part of the GOP base along with the racist Tea Party crowd. The rest of the world must be looking at this country and saying to themselves WTF is going on over there? Imagine what it must be like to be a third or fourth generation American citizen of Hispanic descent in Arizona now. Leading the Neo-Nazi intervention is Jason "J.T." Ready (pictured above) who to me is down right scary. In fact a lot scarier than some Mexicans merely trying to enter the USA to find a better life. NOTE: Ready and his cohorts are NOT gay friendly either. The Arizona Times Union and Time Magazine both look at this frightening and dangerous development. Here are highlights from the Times Union:
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Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.
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Jason "J.T." Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on "narco-terrorists" and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants.
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But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready's group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn't white should leave the country "peacefully or by force."
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"We're not going to sit around and wait for the government anymore," Ready said. "This is what our founding fathers did." . . .
He and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.
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"These are explicit Nazis," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves."
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Ready said he's planning patrols throughout the summer. "If they don't want my people out there, then there's an easy way to send us home: Secure the border," he said. "We'll put our guns back on the shelf, and that'll be the end of that."
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I don't think I am going to be visiting Arizona any time soon with freaks like Ready on the loose and determining who should have the right to be a citizen.

White Supremacist Arrested for Vandalizing Norfolk Synagogues

Back in April I wrote about the vandalizing of several Norfolk, Virginia, synagogues, one of which is attended by very good friends of mine and their family. Now an arrest has been made and surprise, surprise, it seems that the alleged vandal - John Edward Grogan (pictured at left) - is affiliated with a neo-Nazi white supremacist organization, Volksfront, identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I guess Grogan's big mistake was not to enlist in the U.S. military, which is accepting white supremacists but not gays, of course, or get a job with Fox News rather than damage the synagogues. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Police on Monday announced the arrest of a man charged with vandalizing several synagogues in April with anti-Semitic, anti-gay and racist messages. John Edward Grogan, 29, of the 200 block of Elizabeth Ave. in Waynesboro, was arrested there July 9, said police spokeswoman Karen Parker-Chesson. She said investigators at first did not want to compromise the investigation by releasing Grogan's name when others involved remained at large. Investigators now hope to generate new information and leads, she said.

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Worshippers at Temple Israel on Granby Street arrived to find anti-Semitic stickers on windowpanes and the side of the building on April 18. Police said at least five locations in Ghent and on Granby Street were vandalized but declined to name them. The suspects were caught on videotape, which was released to the media.

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Grogan is affiliated with Volksfront, an organization Parker-Chesson described as white supremacist. A tattoo on Grogan's neck, visible in his mug shot, resembles a symbol found on one of the stickers used in the vandalism. Parker-Chesson said his arrest came as a result of Crime Line tips and police investigation. Authorities think the slurs might have been done to mark the birth of Adolf Hitler, who was born April 20, 1889, Parker-Chesson said.

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In some way it truly is frightening that hate filled people like Grogan continue exist in this day and age, but then one only has to look at the Faux News backed tea-baggers, the birthers, the protesters disrupting Democrat townhall meetings on health care reform to realize that there are a lot of whacked out nut cases in this country - most of whom are now the Republican Party's base.

Group Warns Congress of Racial Extremists Within Military

I mentioned a few days ago how the U.S. Military continues to expel gay and lesbian service members under Don't Ask, Don't Tell even while recruiting standards have been so lowered that felons, non-high school graduates and racists are regularly inducted into the armed services. Much to my surprise, the Virginian Pilot has a long article on the Southern Poverty Law Center 's request on Friday that Congress strengthen policies against racial extremists in uniform. Salon also had a good article last month entitled "Neo-Nazis are in the Army Now," which I recommend readers read in full as well. Here is a quote from the Salon story:

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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.

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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.

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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."

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This trend is a frightening prospect and it will take Congressional action since too many in senior military positions will not take the action needed to root out racists and Neo-Nazi members - even though they have no problem unleashing witch hunts for gays. I'm both surprised and please that the Virginian Pilot ran the story, although based on some the comments posted by readers, we have our share of white supremacists in this area. Here are highlights from the Pilot's article:

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"Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces," Morris Dees, founder of the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, wrote to the heads of four congressional committees. "Because the presence of extremists in the armed forces is a serious threat to the safety of the American public, we believe Congressional action is warranted."

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Dees noted that center has recently found dozens of personal profiles of self-described military members on a neo-Nazi Web site. Many contain pictures of individuals in front of Nazi flags, some in military uniforms. The individuals don't use their real or full names on the site, and the center didn't try to determine who they were. Two men identified themselves as sailors on the white supremacist Internet forum New Saxon, Beirich said. One used the screen name "gunman88" - 88 being neo-Nazi shorthand for "Heil Hitler" - while the other went by "clarkpatrick88."

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One Navy officer the center wants to see banned from service is Lt. Cmdr. John Sharpe. Sharpe was a Norfolk-based public affairs officer aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in 2007 when a newspaper called attention to essays and books he had written and edited. Sharpe, who is Catholic, wrote numerous essays after the 9/11 attacks. In one, he contended that the real enemy is not Islamic extremism or al-Qaida, it is "mindless pluralism which moves toward a universal brotherhood of nations" in which "all the separate races and religions shall disappear."

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A Navy spokesman did not respond Friday to a request for comment on the letter.

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It goes almost without saying that these folks typically hold a severe prejudice against LBGT Americans as well as black, Jews, and other non-Christians

More Fruits of the GOP's Toxic Racism

MSNBC has a breaking story about a plot by two Neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and kill dozens of other African Americans, perhaps inspired by the racial hatred being disseminated - subtly and not so subtly - by elements of the Republican Party. Apparently, the conspirators planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14 - the numbers 88 and 14 being symbolic in the white supremacist community - and then cap it all off by assassinating Barack Obama. Such lovely, Christian actions. Are you happy yet John McCain and Sarah Palin? The more that I see of this mindset and the fascism of the Christianists and white supremacists, the more important I believe it is that McCain/Palin be crushed on November 4th. This type of politics and such pandering to hatred must be ended. Here are the highlights available so far from MSNBC:

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WASHINGTON - A plot by two Neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and kill dozens of other African Americans has been foiled, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Monday. Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Ark., were charged Friday with making threats against a presidential candidate, illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun and conspiracy to rob a gun store.

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Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville ATF field office, said the two men sought to go on a national killing spree that included an unnamed African-American school, with Obama as their final target. The two planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14, he added. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

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“They said that would be their last, final act — that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama,” Cavanaugh said. “They didn’t believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.”