What an Incestuous Web We Weave.....

Most of us are well aware of how intertwined gun control advocacy is with organizations being funded by the same groups that fund the reports they cite.

What isn't quite as clear is how close the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have become in the recent spate of reports that have surfaced this year.

First off we have the (now retracted) "Strategic Report on the Modern Militia" from the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) that was leaked to the public. MIAC is a 'Fusion Center' of the DHS. This was the report that specifically named Ron Paul and Bob Barr supporters as potential terrorists. It cites information from the SPLC.

Then we had the "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" from the DHS that named bloggers who disagree with the mainstream media as extremists.

Then the DHS released the "Rightwing Extremism" paper that, while supposedly a companion peice to the 'Leftwing Extremism' paper, was so broad as to include pretty much anyone who considered themselves 'conservative' or 'rightwing'. It also directly quoted a SPLC report from 2006 (without naming them) pointing 'domestic terrorist' fingers at military personnel. At least one other mention of a 'prominent civil rights organization' is a reference to another SPLC report. According to blogger BVBL, a FOIA request to the DHS on the report was responded to w/ numerous links to the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL, who also heavily influenced the MIAC paper).

Just recently the SPLC released their own report, "The Second Wave", that cites the DHS paper stating "that suggested a resurgence of radical right-wing activity was under way." among numerous other references. It also numerous 'Lexicon' terminologies in the same format.

Hmm. Where could they possibly have gotten that idea from?

MachineGuns at Gun Shows Myth: The Reality

Since an Al Qaeda terrorist proclaimed you could go to a US gun show and buy machineguns w/o any paperwork whatsoever, gun control pundits have tried to come up w/ any excuse to try and ‘close the gun show loophole’ (iow ban private transactions) because ‘terrorists want to buy machineguns in the US’.

Well we all noted how stupid that nonsense was so they tried a different track. They tried claiming that it was ‘assault weapons’ and ‘conversion kits’ that were prolific at gun shows. I had a conversation w/Brady Campaign Spokes-Victim Colin Goddard who claimed to have seen conversion kits that were sold ‘only at gun shows’. Yeah. OK.

Well of course all the other major players in the gun banning world had to get involved as well. The Joyce Foundation bought and paid ‘Media Matters’ put out a nice little piece on it. In it they linked a Southern Poverty Law Center** interview (through MAIG) who visited some gun shows and, of course, claims he found lots of scary books and guns, “In the 90’s during the peak of the militia movement”. He saw these “Very cheap little kits, which were glorified rubber bands*, which for a few dollars you could convert a semi-automatic weapon into a completely illegal fully automatic weapon.” And of course he claims it’s always right next to the ‘Turner Diaries’. You’ld think these guys run off a script.

Their strongest evidence is a VPC report (another Joyce Foundation grantee) about a GAO report and hearing stating that ‘truckloads’ of military grade parts and ammo can be found at gun shows. The problem w/ this? The VPC report is from 2000 while the GAO report and hearing they cite is from 1993. 18 years ago. The report and commission also had nothing to do w/ gun shows, but instead involved the thefts of hundreds of thousands of dollars of military equipment from NG facilities which was allegedly being used for personal use or making its way to criminal elements .

An interesting side note is that according to a NG Investigator from Tennessee, Al Gore (then Senator) prevented the prosecution of the thieves. One can only assume this was in return for testifying before Congress, similar to what occurred w/ Robyn Anderson, the girl who straw purchased several of the guns for the Columbine shooters and then Rep. Ken Gordon, another gun-control advocate.

So what we’re seeing is gun control groups supporting their endeavors w/ information that is nearly 20 years out of date and contemporary ‘experts’ who are completely ignorant on the subject they’re discussing. That’s like claiming you can still find SKS’s by the crate for less than $100 ea because it was common back then. But they’re dishonest enough to try and make it seem like it’s happening today because that’s the only way they can push their agenda.

* For newer readers. The devices he describes make a semi-auto cycle quickly by 'bumping' the trigger over and over. It does not make it a 'machinegun'.

** More on the SPLC here and here.

"OathKeeper" = "RightWing Terrorist"

Someone has been reading the SPLC's reports on "Right Wing Extremists" and has decided that swearing to uphold the Constitution is a bad thing.

What this article really shows besides a desire to suppress opinions he doesn't like is a lack of a decent editor as well as quite a bit of ignorance of concepts such as sovereignty in a federal system is NOT the same as declaring independence and that it is not contrary to the UCMJ to disobey an unlawful order.

He also gives a nice shout out to the Sipsey Street Irregulars.

The net effect of this will be to get more people to sign up. They are their own worst enemy.

David Codrea also has an Examiner column on another Oathkeeper hitpiece.

'Patriot' is a 4-Letter Word

The SPLC still apparently doesn't have the desire to add in any 'left wing extremist' groups to their reports and consider the word 'Patriot' to be racist and offensive.

See, it has nothing to do w/ him trashing the economy, causing taxes to skyrocket or his and his allies'  perpetual drive to ban/confiscate guns.  It's all because he's black.

Yeah. OK.

Now that I'm an officially designated insurrectionist, I wonder if I can get on their list.

Guilt By Association

So the SPLC, joining the DHS, publishes another report about 'right-wing militia's' and all the nasty stuff they might do. Their statements paint quite a broad brush of correlations:

One federal agency estimates that 50 new militia training groups have sprung up in less than two years. Sales of guns and ammunition have skyrocketed amid fears of new gun control laws, much as they did in the 1990s.

They even include military and law enforcement who promise to do their job:

Oath Keepers, the military and police organization that was formed earlier this year and held its April muster on Lexington Green, may be a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.

Gun Control is on the radar:

One Oath Keeper is longtime militia hero Richard Mack, ... won a U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened the Brady Bill gun control law in the 1990s.

At the same time, players like the National Rifle Association, which in the 1990s publicly attacked federal law enforcement agents as "jackbooted thugs," are back at it. Two months before the election last fall, firearms manufacturers joined forces to promote NRA membership in a national campaign ominously dubbed "Prepare for the Storm in 2008."

Tea Parties, the NRA, anti-illegal immigration, gun shows, Constitutionalism, etc. are being lumped together w/ KKK, neo-Nazi's, white supremacists and violent reactionaries in an attempt to demonize them all and reduce their influence. And all of it is intersparsed w/ correlations to racism at its core.

The partisanship displayed is so overt that even CNN questioned the report when they did a piece on it. it is clearly shown here:

At the Jacksonville, Fla., July tea party, some protesters carried signs that compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler.

"Bushitler" was the default insult for the previous 8 years. Why the uproar now? Oh, right.

This is the kind of rhetoric that we will continue to see. Count on it.

BATFE: Gun Advocates Arming Chicago Gangs

From WGNTV:

“It remains constant from year to year that about 40 percent of the crime guns recovered in the City of Chicago come from Illinois, and about 20 percent come from Indiana. The core mission of the Crime Gun Center is to identify these shooters, or these ‘three percenters,’ and the traffickers that sell them guns and get them off our streets,” said Carl Vasilko, ATF Special Agent in Charge.

See, now here's the rub,  'three percenters' (or threepers) are, in gun vernacular, a more uncompromising, absolutist element of the firearm rights advocacy movement. So is Agent Vasilko claiming that people like Kurt Hoffman and David Codrea are smuggling guns?  

In a sense, yes.  A report leaked from the 'New York State Intelligence Center' plays 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' to try and connect the Oath Keepers, 'Three Percenters', and Mike Vanderboegh to the actions of the Miller shooters and other 'far right extremists'.  As usual, they use references from the anti-gun, left leaning ADL and SPLC as their sources.

So are we witnessing the beginning of a smear campaign against firearms rights advocates, attempting to relabel them as criminals and domestic terrorists?  It certainly wouldn't surprise me.

No "Bones" About It

TV writers like the whole 'Extremist' angle for their plots.

I was watching that crime drama 'Bones' last night w/ the wife and saw some scenes direct from the Joyce funded EIC with a little help from the DHS/SPLC for flavor.

A disgruntled former soldier who runs a 'pirate radio station' whose sole purpose is ranting about government and his 'rights' shows remorse for his 'hate' even though he had nothing to do w/ the featured crime and swears off broadcasting forever.

Convicted and released bomber runs a website listing details on how he built bombs.

One would almost think that the writers of these shows rifle through copies of these reports in order to find ideas.

The Grassroots that isn't..

We have the Dr. that isn't.

The daughter of an Obama delegate asking fed questions.

Bused in supporters to townhall meetings.

Obama supporters carrying Obama/Hitler signs.

And a pretend White Supremacist (who isn't) sending fake death threats.

This must be where the SPLC has seen its increase in 'right-wing militia's'.

Henigan Hypocrisy

We all know that talking out of both sides of their mouths is standard for the Brady Campaign. This latest bit by Dennis "I forgot the people" Henigan is particularly amusing:

I refer to the extraordinary legislation passed into law by the states of Montana and Tennessee declaring that guns or ammunition manufactured and retained entirely within the borders of those states are "not subject to federal law." Apparently, similar legislation has been introduced in Texas, Alaska, Minnesota, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Colorado.

Can a state unilaterally exempt its homemade products from the reach of federal law? Only if it is prepared to defy the United States Constitution.

Yet, when it comes to gun control, they openly advocate violations of the law and state constitutions:

On a 7 - 0 vote, the Erie City Council voted today to pass a law requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to the police. This measure will remove a commonly used alibi employed by gun traffickers and help get illegal guns off the streets. Erie joins Lancaster, Wilkinsburg, Allentown, Pottsville, Reading, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh to become the ninth municipality in Pennsylvania to pass the requirement.

Never mind the fact that Dennis can't even quote the US Constitution correctly.

So is secession the next step for all the cities the Brady Campaign supports? According to Dennis' argument it is.

What this really shows is that the Brady Bunch is desperate. They're trying to jump on the "Right Wing Extremist" bandwagon promoted by the SPLC and ADL . This is the same ploy used by Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center and Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence as their respective groups slid into irrelevance and obscurity. They are unable to persuade people with evidence or defend their claims with facts so they can only resort to smearing firearm owners with (usually inaccurate) anecdotes, half-truths and nonsense claims like that above.

It's funny in a "Disco still rules" kind of way.

What They Left Out

The CSGV has updated their very selective 'Insurrectionist Timeline' which really should be renamed '"Right-Wingers" We Don't Like' Timeline.  Take a look at their tweets:

What's missing from there?  Oh right, the 'Occupy' associated Bridge Bombers and the NBPP calling for a 'Race War'. They must be like the SPLC and 'not be set up to cover the extreme left' or else they agree w/ it.

Of Craziness, Conspiracies and Cover-ups

Who in there right mind needs a fucking silencer!!! who needs a freaking SBR AR15? No one. No more Virginia Tech, Columbine HS, Wisconsin temple, Aurora theatre, Portland malls, Tucson rally, Newtown Sandy Hook. Whether by executive order or thru a bi-partisan congress an assault weapons ban needs to be re-instituted. Period!!!
Mia Farrow said it best. “Gun control is no longer debatable, it’s not a conversation, its a moral mandate.”
Sen. Feinstein, you are doing the right thing in leading the re-institution of a national AWB. Never again should any public official state that their prayers and thoughts are with the family.

Sound familiar?  Sounds like each and every rant made by gun control activists on pages like those of the CSGV, Brady Campaign or any other one.  One could even say that it was inspired by people like Ladd Everitt since it uses all the classic talking points and meme's.

This is a little different however.  This was written by serial cop killer (and former LAPD officer) Chris Dorner as just a part of a long, conspiracy theory filled rant.

Again, though, this is a little different.  In his rant, he also mentions strong support for Obama.  All this is being left out of the reporting by the MSM.   The same way they're leaving out the mention of the SPLC connection in the FRC shootings and the fact that the shooter used their 'hate map' to pick targets.

In response, the LAPD have turned into a modern equivalent of the Keystone Cops but nowhere near as funny.  So far, they've shot up two pickup trucks and wounded at least two civilians that remotely resembled the shooters' reported vehicle.

Why is all this going on? If the shooter had even been rumored to be 'right wing', the press would be all over it and Ladd Everitt would be screaming 'insurrectionist'.  But since he's not, they're not.  Instead they're 'waiting', just as they critisized the NRA for doing after Sandy Hook. The media is selectively editing the news to protect and endorse the president and his pet policies.  They are ignoring any facts that don't fit into their self created stereotype of all shooters being conservative white guys.

These two people are bat-sh!t crazies, but they;re the 'lefts' crazies.  And they really hate that.

More at Uncle, Weer'd's

@CSGV's Selective Outrage

Josh 'Oompa Loompa' Horwitz puts out another Huffpo screed declaring that opposing Obamacare will cause NRA members to go around shooting politicians and blowing up Synagogues.

No mention, however, of the threats made against those who oppose it like Mitt Romney or Jane Pitt or after the second election of Gov of Wisconsin Scott Walker.

Are these actions acceptable to the employees of the CSGV or are they, like the SPLC, just 'not set up to cover the extreme left'? 

We all know the reality. The CSGV doesn't care about 'violence', firearm or otherwise, and only uses it to push a political agenda and to attempt to smear anyone who opposes that agenda through false associations, libel and intimidation.

Update:  And Ladd's response?  Not any type of justification but another strawman:

Are the pro-gunners pulling out the "Two Wrongs Make a Right" argument yet AGAIN at HuffPo?

Note that he doesn't provide any evidence of said claims. Shock.

"Left-Wing" Terrorists

ELF claims credit for toppling radio towers

SNOHOMISH, Wash. -- A piece of heavy equipment was used to topple two towers for Everett radio station KRKO, and the national Earth Liberation Front says their members are responsible...

But Jerry Anderson added, "I was glad this happened. It made me think of the Boston Tea Party."

Yet no broad brush reports from the ADL, SPLC, or DHS condemning anyone even remotely associated w/ supporting 'Green' causes.

What's an 'Extremist'?

We've covered here several times how the DHS likes to define 'Right Wing Extremist' w/ a brush broad enough to make even Sherwin-Williams happy but what about 'Left Wing' Extremists?  Those tend to be defined much more narrowly and w/ changing definitions.

In the latest 'Hot Spot' report, 'Left Wing Extremists' are defined thusly:

groups that want to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes. This category also includes secular left-wing groups that rely heavily on terrorism to overthrow the capitalist system and either establish “a dictatorship of the proletariat” (Marxist-Leninists) or, much more rarely, a decentralized, non-hierarchical political system (anarchists).

 So, iow, Commies w/ a side order of anarchists and that it hasn't really been an issue since the 1970's(Pg21) when Communism was the 'in' thing for bored suburban college kids to do to piss off their parents. The heyday of all the categories was also during the '70's as well.

Even 'Right Wing Extremist' related 'terrorist attacks' have been a non issue from 2000 through 2008 according to the report(pg21), this contradicts previous DHS, FBI, SPLC and ADL claims that 'right wing extremism' has been on the rise (while ignoring all the 'Left Wing' stuff).

What has been going on?  'Single Issue' attacks w. 47 during the same time period.

Here's where it gets fun though.  The definition of 'Left Wing' has changed from previous DHS reports.  In the '09 report on 'LeftWing Extremism' and cyber attacks (once again a very limited scope compared to the companion 'Right Wing Extremism' report), the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), 'animal rights extremists' and 'environmental extremists' are included (pg 3) in the Left Wing category w/ the definition (appendix):

DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines leftwing extremists as
groups or individuals who embrace radical elements of the anarchist, animal rights, or
environmental movements and are often willing to violate the law to achieve their
objectives.

In the new report, the animal and environmental activists have been shifted over to 'single issue' and even then the numbers are suspect.  According to the ELF Wiki page, they alone have taken credit for over 4 dozen incidents from 2000-2008 resulting in tens of millions of dollars in damage, primarily by arson. The 'Hot Spot' report, however, classifies arson as an 'ordinary crime'(pg 10) leading one to conclude they have again artificially reduced the numbers of previously DHS defined 'Left Wing' extremists/terrorists. This becomes even more likely since the FBI (who categorized them as 'single issue') stated during 2002 congressional hearings that:

The FBI estimates that the ALF/ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the United States since 1996, resulting in damages in excess of 43 million dollars.

So again we have a broadening definition of 'Right Wing Extremism' and a narrowing/arbitrary definition of 'Left Wing extremism' along w/ completely subjective incident numbers.

Color me shocked.

QOTD: San Bernadino

I've made several posts over the years regarding the various government 'reports' sourcing the ADL and SPLC regarding 'right wing extremism', Gadsden flags, prior military, remote controlled plane hobbyists, etc. being the biggest dangers to the nation. 

Mig sums it up distinctly:

While the Left, Gun Control groups and even DHS were watching Gun Owners, the NRA and 2A groups, 3%ters, Christians, Jews, Tea Party, etc, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were prepping with all confidence and carried an attack on a soft target. And you can also bet your ass they were not the only ones out there.

CA legal firearms, empty on the 'terrorist watch lists',etc. 

But they're contained and only upset about global warming.