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SPLC warns Homeland Security of potential threat
March 5, 2013
Dear Friend of the Center,
Dear Friend of the Center,
Today, we've written
to top U.S. law enforcement officials warning them of the growing threat of
domestic terrorism from far-right antigovernment extremist groups. These
organizations are growing more militant by the day as Congress debates gun
control.
Our annual count
of extremist groups, also released today, shows that armed militias and other
antigovernment groups surged to 1,360 in 2012 – an all-time high and an 813
percent rise since President Obama took office.
At the same time,
hate groups – neo-Nazis, white nationalists, racist skinheads, and others
– remained at near-record levels.
Our letter to
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
urges them to create a new task force to ensure the government is devoting the
resources needed to address domestic terrorism.
We're seeing ominous threats from extremists who believe the government is poised
to take their guns. It's the same type of atmosphere we saw in the mid-1990s when
we warned then-Attorney General Janet Reno of the danger. Six months later,
militia sympathizer Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City,
killing 168 men, women, and children.
The potential for another deadly attack is real – and clearly rising. It's
critically important that federal officials take this threat seriously.
With your support, we will continue to press for action and to expose the
activities of the radical right. And, we'll provide key intelligence and resources
to law enforcement officials to help them fight violent extremists.
Thank you for standing with us in this crucial effort.
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Sincerely,
 Morris Dees Founder, Southern Poverty Law Center |
Last Resistance
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TODAY'S ARTICLES
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Anti-government extremist groups reach record levels, say experts
A memorial marks the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. Other anti-government attacks could be on the horizon, say experts.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- 74-year-old "patriot" group founder says her Granny Warriors are harmless
- Southern Poverty Law Center: The number of such groups has risen by 7% in the past year
- Ex-FBI informant David Gletty expects anti-government sentiment will worsen
A report released Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center counted
1,360 "patriot" extremist groups in 2012 -- up by 7% from 2011. The
study defines patriot groups as anti-government militias driven by their
fear that authorities will strip them of their guns and liberties.
"They believe the
Constitution is being raped. With hate groups, things are going to get
worse because they feel like they're in battle," said David Gletty a
former FBI informant who spent time undercover with various militia and
extremist groups. "It's not surprising with their hatred of President
(Barack) Obama that there are even more hate groups out there."
The study said California has the most patriot extremist groups, with 81.
'Patriot' groups 1995-2012
The SPLC report also
offers a bit of good news: The number of "immigrant-bashing" extremist
groups -- so-called nativism organizations -- is way down from 2011,
falling by 88%.
The new statistics come after a string of crimes linked to extremist groups. A year ago, a Michigan militia leader and his son pleaded guilty to federal gun charges. Last August, a 40-year-old ex-soldier-turned singer for a white supremacist rock band shot up a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people, before taking his own life. A few weeks later, a group of Georgia men was linked to an anti-government militia plot to assassinate Obama.
Obama's election as the
first African-American president and his pro-gun control stance have
fueled the increase in anti-government groups, according to the report.
"We are seeing a huge
reaction to the potential for gun control, and that reaction is so angry
that it's hard not to be afraid of what's coming down the road," said
Mark Potok of the SPLC.
The rise in such groups
echoes a period almost 20 years ago, around the time when Congress
passed the 1993 Brady Bill and the 1994 ban on assault weapons, the SPLC
said. That legislation came near a period of infamous and deadly
anti-government violence in Waco, Texas; Ruby Ridge, Idaho; and Oklahoma
City, "and led to the first wave of the patriot movement," the report
said.
Extremists, Gletty warned, "are in a battle in their minds. Their backs are against the wall."
Skeptics
But Jesse Walker, of the Reason Foundation
and author of an upcoming book, "The United States of Paranoia: A
Conspiracy Theory," said counting groups isn't a good way to measure the
threat. "It's dubious to assume growth in numbers is related to
violence."
Also, the center's definition of hate groups has changed in the past year, kicking up a controversy.
Critics accused the group
of unfairly bundling together organizations with vastly different
points of view -- and painting them all as potentially violent.
For example a North Carolina-based group calling itself "Granny Warriors" appears on the SPLC list of active "patriots."
But founder Linda Hunnicutt says her organization is harmless.
"I am deadly!" she joked. "I'm 74 years old. I have COPD. I have congestive heart failure. I'm sewing a quilt."
Hunnicutt acknowledges she's no friend of the federal government, but, she wishes no harm on anyone.
"All these people that want to bomb places and kill children, come on," she said. "Who would be in sympathy with them?"
Hunnicutt said she and
her group just want Uncle Sam to leave them alone. When Granny Warriors
showed up on the SPLC list, Hunnicutt said she wasn't surprised. But it
made her wonder, "Is this all they have to do?"
Nonetheless, Hunnicutt's thankful to be on the list because she said it increases her group's notoriety.
Fringe elements
Gletty said most of the
fringe elements characterized in the report hate the government more
than they do specific races. They hate everyone, Gletty said.
Now a private
investigator, Gletty spent years undercover as an FBI informant watching
the internal workings of white supremacist groups.
The groups named in the
SPLC study came from information compiled from "field reports, Patriot
publications, the Internet, law enforcement sources and news reports."
Other highlights of the report include:
-- The state with the most neo-Nazi groups: California, with 9.
-- The state with the most Ku Klux Klan groups: Texas, with 26.
-- The report breaks out
a group it calls "Christian Identity," which the SLPC defines as "a
religion that is fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic." Texas has the
most, with five.
-- Another category in
the report, called "General Hate," is defined as groups that are
anti-gay, Holocaust deniers, racist musicians or radical traditionalist
Catholics. California has the most such groups, with 37.
"The country needs to do
better," Potok wrote in an editorial. The Department of Homeland
Security, he said, needs to act to avoid a repeat of the kind of
hate-based violence the nation saw in the 1990s.
Public Advocate: Rampant lawlessness
President Obama is openly ignoring his Constitutional duties in order to attack real marriage in America.
You see, it is the duty of the President through his Solicitor General to defend the federal government and its laws in the Supreme Court.
But instead of defending his government's laws, President Obama and his Solicitor General are aggressively undermining the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Almost two years ago Obama declared that his administration would stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act.
And just last week, the Solicitor General actually filed an Amicus Brief against the federal law.
DOMA is the only law on the books protecting the majority of the states from having to recognize homosexual “marriages” authorized by only a few states.
And it is still a federal law, passed by Congress and signed by the Office of the President.
The Executive Office simply does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the laws of the U.S. government.
And the Solicitor General is not authorized to decide which federal laws are defended and which are not.
But for almost two years, Obama’s Solicitor General has followed Obama’s irresponsible decree and outright refused to defend the government.
You see, the Solicitor General’s sole job is to represent the federal government before the Supreme Court.
However Mr. Verrilli has rejected his obligations and is actively working to advance the Homosexual Agenda.
And in a case in which he should be working to defend marriage as laid out in federal law, he is attacking it.
To be blunt: under Obama’s direction, he has simply rejected his job.
That’s why Public Advocate is calling on Speaker of the House John Boehner to take action today.
You see, Congress holds the purse strings in the balancing act in Washington.
Right now, the United States is facing the worst spending crisis our nation has ever seen.
And with Washington searching for government waste, I can think of no better place to start than an agency that refuses to perform its only job.
That’s why I’ve created a petition calling for Speaker Boehner to defund the Office of the Solicitor General until that office agrees to defend DOMA and real marriage in America.
Please click here to sign Public Advocate’s Petition to Defund the Solicitor General.
Thank you for all you do.
For the Family,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. Obama's Solicitor General has not only failed to perform his duty to defend federal laws, he has now actually filed an Amicus Brief attacking federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act.
Please click here to sign a special petition calling for Speaker Boehner to defund the Office of the Solicitor General.
Jan Morgan Media
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