@Smokin Joe
@roamer_1
@txradioguy
@Smokin Joe
@mystery-ak
@CatherineofAragon
Another time, another invasion:
Remember Vietnam? I was an Associate School Psychologist in the NASA area south of Houston. That area includes Seabrook, where shrimp fishermen launch their boats. We had an invasion of Vietnamese who came to this area due to the water and shrimp fishing.
How bad was this invasion? Man, it was terrible. The Vietnamese were hard workers and their children were polite in school and started becoming Valedictorians when they graduated high school. It got so awful, the Houston school system made a new rule to keep these invaders from becoming Valedictorians - the new rule was you had to be in the Houston high schools for three years before you could be Valedictorian of a graduation class. I laughed when they did that. These great students with families insisting their children learn, were too smart so a rule was made to keep them from getting high honors upon graduation.
There was also a great problem with these Vietnamese fishermen. They fished longer hours than Seabrook regular fisherman, so they caught more shrimp than the regular fishermen, so they made more money and that was just not right that they were making more money than the regulars. The regulars started messing up the boats of these Viet fishermen. It got dangerous and the regular fishermen contacted the KKK in Pasadena. My son was a senior at Rice University and his major was film. He was making a film of the KKK when this happened. The KKK had a gathering and burned a boat they bought. They had guns. Son was going to film that and I told him if a gun was fired, stop filming and take cover.
He ended up in court as Morris Dees of the Poverty Law Center sued the KKK. He wanted son's film. Son hid out in various places around Houston as Dees got the FBI to hunt for Wayne and his film. Son would not give them that film until it was edited. Rice Un. got son a lawyer who went to the judge and the judge told Dees/FBI to leave son alone until he got the film edited. Finally, son's film was shown in court with son on witness stand. Son spoke up and stopped the film, saying that part was not his film. Dees had put other film into son's film. The judge told the jury not to consider that part of the film.
Morris Dees and the Poverty Law Center are not my favorite people.
I discovered the SPLC and Mark Pittcavage's "Militia Watchdog" site after Ruby Ridge and Waco. For some reason those events are often placed in reverse chronological order, perhaps to not make Waco look like the escalation it was.
After those, there were a lot of farmers and some folks who had less than mainstream religious beliefs (small sects like the Branch Davidian of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, in size, anyway) who were concerned enough they formed little home defense groups. Some of us were just interested in fighting gun control measures that went beyond those already infringing on the 2nd Amendment after the GCA of '68 and the "Assault Weapons Ban", where the Democrats were practically frothing at the mouth with things like "Turn them all in" and "Ban them all".
Someone I know who worked for a Federal Agency started spouting about how a bunch of scared farmers who got together at the gun range were terrorists and I asked them their source. I said that was not my experience with people in such groups at all, and said the agency they worked for should have had far better information. That's when I found out the SPLC and Pittcavage's groups had been indoctrinating Federal Agencies about what are now called "Domestic Terrorists", and likely that indoctrination provoked or contributed to the bushwhacking of Gordon Kahl and has colored every threatened and actual dispute between citizens and the Federal Government since.
So, being the sort I am, and, not just wanting to take someone's word for it, I went to their websites, and was regaled with a reality that only exists in the parallel universe of the Liberal Mind. It is truly a dangerous place, for it takes groups which are harmless and posits they are as dangerous as some groups who genuinely are dangerous. The predictable result is that virtually anyone known to possess a firearm who openly disagrees with government policy becomes a potential target of agencies using military tactics to 'arrest' that person at worst, and needless scrutiny at best.
The predictable result is that more incidents will be met with more paranoia which will lead to either people shutting up or violence which tends to make the SPLC and Pittcavage's 'information' into a self-fufilling prophesy. Only the exposure of 'the new media' has put a damper on this--note Lavoy Finicum was shot at a roadblock set up where there was no cell service.
As president of a local anti gun-control group, I had repeatedly to squelch talk in meetings about anything from allegations of Zionist Conspiracy (only a couple of members) to braying about violent action. The two who were the loudest about the latter (they seem to travel in pairs), I suspect were agents provocateur, but regardless, that wasn't what we were there for.
I merely reminded them of our sole purpose: to track State and Federal firearms legislation and organize letter writing campaigns for or against bills depending on what they proposed. Anything else they wanted to discuss, they were free to do so, just after the meeting was over. Anyone, of any race, creed, color, whatever who was against the Government infringing on the RKBA was a welcome ally, in my opinion.
Still, having seen the almost knee-jerk reaction to the mention of the Militia of Montana from that agency person I know indicated an emotional level of indoctrination which surprised me from someone I had thought rational--until I realized they had probably sat through untold briefings, seminars, and presentations by Dees' and other minions whose purpose has ever been to disarm the American people, and to promote the enslavement of the entire population under the boot of Federal Law Enforcement while claiming to provide a public service to keep us all safe from repression. In a roundabout way, it is the first example of SWATting I know of.
Any time they, or any organization affiliated with them or using them as a source are involved in something, the 'information' being acted on is suspect at best, as are the motivations and actions of the organization. Seeing SPLC in the credits is cause for suspicion that the material is fatally tainted, and that it demands critical scrutiny.