The SPLC lists Jihad Watch as a hate group, and this classification, unsurprisingly, has become a staple of every report from lazy Leftist journalists. None of them ever pause, and probably none of them ever wish to pause, to consider the question quis custodiet ipso custodes? — Who watches the watchmen? Why is fighting for the freedom of speech and the equality of rights of all people now classified as “hate”? An uncritical, uninformed public takes for granted that the SPLC is some kind of neutral observer, when actually it is a far-Left attack outfit, using its “hate group” classifications to stigmatize and demonize foes of its political agenda. But it classifies no Leftist or Islamic jihad groups as “hate groups,” and that in itself is an indication of the cynicism of its enterprise.
The cynicism and irresponsibility of this is obvious. Not that any mainstream media reporter will deign to report on it.
“Amazon now urged to blacklist ‘haters,'” by Bob Unruh, WND, May 2, 2014:
For many years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled groups with values it doesn’t tolerate as “hate groups,” but now the organization is taking its attacks a step further, demanding Amazon and PayPal blacklist bloggers and websites that don’t fall in line with its leftist agenda.
Headlined “Financing Hate” in the group’s Intelligence Report publication, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, listed 91 “hate groups” ranging from those clearly on the fringe to mainstream bloggers and websites such as Catholic Family News, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, WND and the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.
Clearly stating its opposition, it describes how some of the organizations utilize Amazon, PayPal and other online services to sell products.
SPLC said the Intelligence Report contacted Amazon in September about the participation of “hate groups” and “hate sites” in Amazon programs that earn the groups commissions.
Amazon, according to the report, said it would assign “appropriate teams to investigate, review applicable policies, and take appropriate action.”
But SPLC lamented that some of its targets “were still earning commissions through Amazon.”
Several of the targeted organizations have criticized the “thuggish” behavior of SPLC, charging the organization is “somewhere to the left of Karl Marx.”
Renowned Islam expert Robert Spencer, whose Jihad Watch monitor on Islamic radicalism was targeted, said it shows “the desperate insecurity of the left: even at a time when they control the government, the media, and the entertainment industry, they have to strike out against the small, under-financed voices of truth that challenge their hegemony.”
“It also demonstrates their true totalitarian colors, in their absolute unwillingness to tolerate the smallest dissent. This is Goliath striking out against David. But we all know who wins,” Spencer said.
William Gheen, whose organization, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC, opposes illegal immigration and amnesty, said it was all too much.
In an open letter to SPLC posted online and to be “delivered to your offices by certified mail and then turned over to our attorney for further action,” Gheen said SPLC’s claims are “demonstrably false.”
“This letter is to inform you that we have Internet posts and emails containing threats and death threats against my life and the lives of my family members in reaction to your false claims that we are a hate group,” he said. “The threats we have received specifically cite SPLC claims that suggest we are somehow motivated by racism and advocating violence against minorities, both of which are demonstrably false.”
The issue of “hate,” “hate crimes” and “hate speech” has moved back into the headlines now because of a proposal in Congress to evaluate online speech for “hate” and then take action based on that assessment.
As WND reported, if two Democratic lawmakers have their way, Barack Obama’s Justice Department soon will submit a report for action against any Internet sites, broadcast, cable television or radio shows determined to be advocating or encouraging “violent acts.”
That’s from the text of a new bill from Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
The Hate Crime Reporting Act of 2014 “would create an updated comprehensive report examining the role of the Internet and other telecommunications in encouraging hate crimes based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation and create recommendations to address such crimes,” stated a news release from Markey’s office.
Gheen said SPLC is “fully aware” that ALIPAC is “racially inclusive … and that a substantial percentage of our supporters are minorities.”
“The SPLC is fully aware that ALIPAC has openly and eagerly worked with minority organizations and leaders,” he said. “The SPLC is fully aware that I have a background in registering and transporting minority and student voters and working to elect women and minorities to public office in the ’90s. The SPLC is fully aware that we never intentionally work with any racist or violent groups or individuals, and you are aware that we have publicly spoken out against racism and racist groups and individuals on numerous occasions.”
The letter, he wrote, is to “serve as your official notice of all of the factors I’ve listed here including your official notice that your designation of ALIPAC as a hate group, while no evidence exists that anyone in our organization has ever engaged in racism, hate, or violence against minorities, has crossed the line of civil discourse and is now directly encouraging people to threaten violence against me and my family.”
He charged that SPLC was “attempting to mislead our donations company, PayPal, by telling them that we are one of the 91 ‘hate groups’ using their services in the hopes they will stop allowing us to accept donations which pale in comparison to your multimillion dollar yearly budget.”
“Let this letter serve as notice to each of you at the Southern Poverty Law Center including Morris Dees, Mark Potok, and Heidi Beirich that I personally intend to hold you each legally responsible and personally responsible for any physical harm that befalls me, my organization, or my family due to your intentional lies and distortions.”
Gheen said the organization’s “false characterization of groups has led to violence such as the D.C. shooter Floyd Corkins, who tried to kill as many people as possible at the Family Research Council.”
“I believe it is time we put to the test in the courts your false claims and attempts to stir people and companies up against us by mischaracterizing a peaceful multiracial organization such as ALIPAC as similar to Neo-Nazis and the KKK,” he said.
Corkins, a homosexual activist, told investigators he had obtained his information about the Family Research Council from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which publicly had labeled FRC a “hate group” because of its biblical position on homosexuality.
SPLC lists the American Family Association, a traditional Christian ministry focusing on helping families, and the Family Research Council, in the same category as groups like the “Aryan Nations,” because of their biblically based opposition to homosexuality.
“White nationalist” and “racist skinhead” groups are posted in a warning list alongside the family organizations. It was the SPLC’s “Hate Map” that apparently was used by Corkins to identify Christians to kill in 2012.
Spencer told WND the listing of his group by SPLC was “bitterly ironic.”
“The SPLC has a multimillion-dollar budget, gathered by frightening leftists with smear propaganda about right-wing ‘hate groups,’” he said. “They have artificially inflated their list of such groups by including mainstream and reputable conservative groups and groups fighting for the defense of constitutional freedoms and human rights (like Jihad Watch), while largely turning a blind eye to genuine hate groups on the left, as well as Islamic jihad groups.”
Spencer noted that SPLC has “a huge endowment and massively inflated salaries – and now, in their authoritarian quest to stamp out all dissent, they’re targeting tiny organizations that rely on small ($25, $50) donations from PayPal and Amazon to finance their small blades-of-grass-through-the-concrete challenges to the stifling leftist political orthodoxy that currently dominates the public discourse, and of which the SPLC is a thuggish defender.”
Author Pamela Geller, who writes at Atlas Shrugs, told WND the SPLC is a “far left group that uses its hate group listings to demonize conservatives and anyone who dissents from its statist, authoritarian agenda.”
“Its hate group list is so tendentious and politically motivated that they were recently removed from a government website’s listing of resources on hate groups,” she said.
“The ill-gotten wealth of the SPLC amounts to tens of millions of dollars, while those whom they target, the supporters of freedom, are meagerly financed by average Americans who want freedom preserved in this country. The SPLC is highlighting Amazon and PayPal because they are the online means for Average Joes to send money to pro-freedom groups. These subversive destroyers mean to shut us down.”
Judson Phillips, whose Tea Party Nation also was listed, said SPLC is “the ultimate left-wing hate group. This is a group that is somewhere to the left of Karl Marx, and they hate real Americans.”
WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah, who long as been personally targeted by SPLC, along with the news site he founded, said, “The Southern Poverty Law Center is hardly a credible watchdog on so-called ‘hate groups.’ In fact, it is a hate group. But, sadly, with its budget of hundreds of millions of dollars and its cozy relationship with government and the media elite, it has more power and influence than most Americans realize. Its hateful finger-pointing at companies and organizations has actually resulted in real acts of violence, as is the case of the Family Research Council shooting attack. I actually consider it a badge of honor to be targeted by the SPLC. But their attacks do come at a price, because they actually do place real targets on the backs of their enemies.”
WND previously reported on the wide range of groups the SPLC labels as “hate groups,” including the World Congress of Families.
SPLC even has attacked the Drudge Report and Breitbart Editor Ben Shapiro.
The looming “hate crimes” reporting plan has been supported by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, as well as the SPLC.
WND reported that the new one-page bill calls for the Justice Department and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to “analyze information on the use of telecommunications, including the Internet, broadcast television and radio, cable television, public access television, commercial mobile services, and other electronic media, to advocate and encourage violent acts and the commission of crimes of hate.”
The bill does not define which actions by broadcasters would be considered to have encouraged violence, seemingly leaving that open to interpretation.
Once the report is compiled, the bill calls for “any recommendations” for action “consistent with the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” that is determined to be an “appropriate and necessary” way to address the purported encouragement of violent acts.
The Boston Herald took issue with the bill, calling it “frankly chilling” that Markey is seeking to “empower an obscure federal agency to begin scouring the Internet, TV and radio for speech it finds threatening.”
“Perhaps he could crack a briefing book on the crisis in Ukraine rather than looking for his own extra-constitutional methods of punishing speech he finds unacceptable,” added the Herald editorial.
john spielman says
only a MASSAGE LAWSUIT against the SPLC by the involved parties, that would bankrupt it (similar to the bankupting lawsuits that destroyed the KKK ) will stop the lying and hate mongering of the SPLC.
john spielman says
only a MASSAGE LAWSUIT against the SPLC by the involved parties, that would bankrupt it (similar to the bankupting lawsuits that destroyed the KKK ) will stop the lying and hate mongering of the SPLC.
john spielman says
double OOPS; that should be “MASSIVE LAWSUIT ” not “massage”
Jay Boo says
SPLC is secretly Anti-Gay
Sadly Ironic that SPLC does backflips to secure its financial support from gay advocacy groups pandering to their every whim on gay marriage while ignoring a much bigger threat to gays of Islam.
Whenever Jihad Watch exposes Islam’s inherent violence toward liberals and gays it threatens much of SPLC’s funding base.
Every dollar that is sent to SPLC to obscure Islam’s violent intolerance toward gays indirectly buys another noose in Iran or another call to hate prayer tower North Africa and in Bahrain.
Jay Boo says
{Is SPLC allowed to receive funding thru Islamic front groups from questionable foreign sources)
Ayatrollah says
Jihad watch is a hate group that violates Muslims human rights because it slanders Islam. Jihad watch reveals things that Allah and pbuh does not want known. In islam that is slander. For example, this site is known for showing Quran verses that are hateful and mean spirited if taught by a non Muslim. Non Muslims explaining Islam is another violation of Muslims human rights.
Have I got that right?
jihad3tracker says
Here is a link to a Dem caucus that a sponsor of the bill, Hakeem Jeffries, is a member of.
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/caucus-members/
Notice who one of the caucus co-chairs is — our friend and Muslim, the Sharia lovin’ Keith Ellison. Mere coincidence ???
By the way, in WND’s long article, pay attention to William Gheen’s response about the SPLC jackboot hit list — holding SPLC legally responsible for consequences.
This is IMO a tactic ( accountability for consequence ) that should be used by ALL counter-jihad organizations on SPLC’s radar. Including, of course, JW, Atlasshrugs, and Answering Muslims.
jihad3tracker says
And here is a visual example of just how much Hakeem Jeffries and Keith Ellison like each other…
http://www.bigstory.ap.org/photo/charlie-rangel-keith-ellison-hakeem-jeffries
Sheesh — We will never know how much time those two have spent in deep conversation about Ellison’s belief system.
But I do wonder what he has been whispering in Jeffries’ ear to get him so “hateful” of the First Amendment ?
dumbledoresarmy says
“Hakeem Jeffries”.
Surname is of English derivation.
He is supposedly a “Baptist”, born and bred in NYC.
But why would Christian Afro-Americans give their kid an *Arabic* name? One would have expected black Baptists to choose a Biblical name.
I’ve been doing a bit of google trawling and I cannot find out the names of his parents or of any siblings.
Can anybody else find out more?
gravenimage says
Excellent sleuthing, Jihad3tracker.
gravenimage says
Dumbledore’s Army wrote:
dumbledoresarmy
May 2, 2014 at 10:55 pm
“Hakeem Jeffries”.
Surname is of English derivation.
He is supposedly a “Baptist”, born and bred in NYC.
But why would Christian Afro-Americans give their kid an *Arabic* name? One would have expected black Baptists to choose a Biblical name….
………………………….
It appears that he *was* given the name “Hakeem” by his parents—not something he adopted later. Form his Wikipedia page:
“On January 3, 2013, Jeffries was sworn into the 113th Congress. He is the first member of Congress with the given name Hakeem.”
His full name is Hakeem Sekou Jeffries.
“Sekou” is a west African name that means “wise”. “Hakeem” is Arabic for “wise”. I’m sure this is not a coincidence.
He was born in 1970—during the height of the violent and often ugly “Black Power” movement in the US.
Many African Americans decided they were asserting their identity by adopting Muslim names. Of course, nothing could be more perverse—Muslims were the ones who sold Africans into slavery.
That would be my guess for the origin of his name.
His own children have the very Christian names Jeremiah and Joshua, so he probably *is* Baptist.
But while there are quite a few very decent non-Muslim African Americans with silly Islamic names, Hakeem Jeffries clearly goes way beyond this.
Not only is there the story above, but this one, also on Wikipedia:
“He hand-picked and backed Laurie Cumbo in the hotly-contested race for Brooklyn’s 35th district city council seat, who moved into the district just prior to running. She became controversial for anti-semitic comments she made to explain a spate of attacks in Crown Heights.”
Here’s more on this nasty story:
“Crown Heights Councilwoman Blames ‘Knockout Attacks’ on Growing Jewish Community”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/12/crown-heights-councilwoman-blames-knockout-attacks-on-growth-of-jewish-community/
Also, while the perpetrators of these attacks on Brooklyn Jews have usually just been described as “black” or “Caribbean”, at least one of the attackers was Muslim:
“Muslim Amrit Marajh Arrested in Knockout Game Attack on Jewish Man”
http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/11/muslim-amrit-marajh-arrested-knockout-game-attack-jewish-man/
Hakeem Jeffries is also the nephew of crackpot Black Studies professor Leonard Jeffries, Jr, who has claimed that Jews financed the slave trade and started Hollywood in order to hurt black people.
He finally became such an embarrassment that City College of New York tried to fire him.
He also came up with the concept that Europeans are “ice people”who are violent and cruel, and that blacks are “sun people” who are compassionate and peaceful.
He adheres to the “Melanin Theory” that the higher the melanin content of one’s skin, the more evolved one is. This loony racism is not actually all that different from the racial ideas of the Black Muslims.
He has said he wants to see a “world in which there aren’t any white people”.
He lauded the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle.
A Jewish student from Harvard University said that Jeffries threatened him during an interview for The Harvard Crimson—what a surprise…sarc/off
Ultimately, both Jeffries appear to be nasty antisemites—and if not actually Muslim, then certainly sympathetic to many of Islam’s ugly attitudes and aims.
mortimer says
“Lazy Leftist journalists”? Not just lazy, but lacking curiosity in the facts. This is much worse than laziness. A journalist should be demanding to know “What is the truth?”, rather than accepting whatever is handed to him.
There is more to it than mere sloth…they do not want to go the source texts of Islam nor do they want to investigate the people who are giving them information or the front organizations which do fundraising for terrorists or whose board members are also members of terrorist groups.
Such journalists are failing to inform the public about real dangers to them and are leaving the impression that the Muslim Brotherhood is benign rather than devoted to the destruction of liberal democracy.
Wellington says
To all those liberals out there who do “get” Islam, who understand that there are many troubling, freedom-crushing, doctrines that are existent in Mo’s creed, know full well that the Western totalitarianism of our day is to be found almost exclusively on the left side of the political spectrum and that it is aligned with the Islamic world against those who cherish not only liberty but also equality under the law and true tolerance.
Modern liberalism is increasingly being transformed into a disgusting kind of totalitarian leftism and one only has to look at the continued “evolution” of the Democratic Party here in America for confirmation of this. The bill mentioned in this article, put forward by Markey and Jeffries, is a fine example of the Orwellian world that modern leftists will create with enthusiasm if only they can. And so, though myself a conservative (which is pretty much to say an old-fashioned Jeffersonian liberal), I say to those liberals who are real liberals in a Harry Truman kind of way, do your best to rescue your liberalism from the many totalitarians on your side of the political spectrum (e.g., those who make up the SPLC) who are, in effect, destroying Trumanesque liberalism more and more with each passing year.
Beth says
Well said! Wellington
Bezelel says
You make an excellent point. I’ve noticed the term liberal doesn’t mean what it used too. Progressiveness, whatever that means, is very intolerant.The libs have been suckered and hijacked for what ends, doesn’t look good to me. Fundamental change starting with the dictionary. islam should be the main target of any hate speech regulation.
gravenimage says
Excellent post, Wellington.
Beth says
I’d like to see Trey Gowdy go after the SPLC.
I pray the judge that presides over this case will be a just and fair judge. And I can’t wait for the outcome.
Brian Hoff says
Like this bias judge which this state government fail to remove many year ago. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8xf1uJOqI.
Salah says
“Barack Obama’s Justice Department soon will submit a report for action against any Internet sites..”
Obama and his gang of thugs must be arrested, brought to justice and, if convicted of high treason, EXECUTED.
This is what they did in my country: Egypt.
This is what you need to do in the West; every single PC government MUST face trial. The People, the Masses, the Millions of free honest citizens must take a stand, NOW!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-end-of-muslim-brotherhood.html
Vluk says
The SPLC is a traitor to the free world. Every opportunity should be taken to expose them for what they are. This would also make those “lazy reporters” look really foolish and they would think twice about quoting from this racist and oppressive organisation.
Larry Shapiro says
My letter to the SPLC on behalf of Robert Spencer
I have heard that you have described Jihad Watch founded by Robert Spencer as a hate site and are asking for the site to be boycotted. I would agree with you that Mr. Spencer hates the savagery and violence of the Jihadist community and would like to say that if you don’t, then you are not doing your job.
How can you not hate the calls for the annihilation of the Jews and the West, or the torture and beheading of Jihadist victims, or the disgusting misogyny of this culture?
Should Jihad watch not hate this inhumane, medieval ideology that is claiming and has claimed so many victims around the world? Would it make you feel better if it just disliked these activities? Or maybe like yourself was dispassionate about these activities and just studied and reported on them? It’s hard to offer statistics on the number of amputations in the radical Islamic world without making a value judgment.
Robert Spencer is a real scholar on the subject of Islam. Yes he uses impassioned language to disparage the Jihadist ideology and the foolish multicultural people in the West who just see it as another culture no better or worse than the Judeo-Christian culture they live in.
Anyone who doesn’t get angry at a culture that performs clitorectomies on little girls enables this and other outrages against human dignity. We need angry people like Robert Spencer to defend humane values.
A hundred and fifty years ago, Spencer would have lead us against slavery. Speaking of slavery, do you think Abraham Lincoln hated slavery or was just intellectually against it? Again on the topic of slavery, did you know that slavery still exists in the Islamic world and Robert Spencer is in the forefront of those bringing it to our attention.
I would urge your organization to lighten up on Mr. Spencer. He deserves awards not calls for a boycott against him.
Constance says
Bravo!!
Frank Curtis says
Why is it that the anti-anti-jihadists never ever present any examples of hate speech they are so offended by?
Yeah, I know, they can’t tolerate the truth…
As where the Qur’an says that the believers are the best of creatures and the non-believers are the worst of creatures …
That’s the epitome of hate speech, is it not?
Constance says
Robert;
PLEASE keep me informed on this progress….IF , Amazon and/ or Pay Pal go along with Southern Poverty Legal Counsel, I will never use either service!
Thank You