Down the Rabbit Hole (Again)

How did we know this was coming? Are we prophets? Or are we just able to put 2 & 2 together to make 4?

Remember the fine folks at Heritage? After several Republicans accused them of cooking the books to derail Congressional momentum for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), Heritage stood by the work of Jason Richwine... Even as reporters uncovered "research" he wrote suggesting Latin@s have lower IQs than white people. Even though Heritage ultimately quietly released him, it still stood by the findings of that epically flawed "research" on CIR.

And now, Heritage is actually soliciting state government funds for anti-immigrant militia outfits. Oh, yes. That's right. Heritage is demanding wingnut welfare taxpayer dollars for these people.



Of course, this makes perfect sense to Heritage, as it's also advocating the murder of pro-CIR Republicans.



So now, Heritage is swimming in the same cesspool as Shawna Forde and JT Ready. Heritage is endorsing their brand of "securing the border" while calling for taxpayer dollars to be siphoned over to the likes of Jim Gilchrist and the Arizona Militia. So this is what Heritage and its G-O-TEA cheerleaders now call "immigration reform"?



Who are they kidding? The US Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Cliven Bundy and his Patriot Movement BFFs have encouraged even more violent activity from anti-government extremists. And Heritage now says it's a great idea for state governments to fund these very anti-government militia outfits?

How did we know this was coming? Heritage jumped down the rabbit hole long ago. As of late, Heritage has been succeeding in taking most of the Republican Party down with it. And they all seem hell-bent on repeating the very same mistake they made when they rushed to endorse Cliven Bundy's "Range War" in April. When will they ever learn?

"Age Old Battles Between Good & Evil"

Last week, House Republican "leaders" flipped and flopped and flailed. And ultimately, they completely fell to pieces before they finally capitulated to their most extreme elements in order to "pass something". And of course, that "something" they passed last Friday was nothing but a 21st Century Know Nothing wet dream.

Yet while House Republican "leaders" were flailing on Capitol Hill, Patriot Movement militia outfits were regeouping. After failing to build a critical mass at the US-Mexico Border early last month, they're now mobilizing in Texas. They're wearing camouflage and carrying assault weapons. Some are wearing masks. And a one Texas militia chief spokesman actually recommended making death threats at the border.

So are we now supposed to call this "border security"? Cliven Bundy seems to think so. And that's not all. The "outlaw cowboy" and self-proclaimed "Constitutional law expert" now claims his own "Range War" against the rule of law is actually an "age old battle between good and evil".

Oh really, Cliven? Violent militia "range wars" are actually "age old battles between good and evil"? Is this how we're supposed to describe the "revolution" that #BundyRanch guerilla warriors Jerad & Amanda Miller brought to Las Vegas in June?





"Age old battles between good and evil"... Is that how we're supposed to describe Shawna Forde and her cohorts opening fire on a Southern Arizona family and murdering an innocent girl & her father?



"Age old battles between good and evil"... Like the one JT Ready fought against an innocent Phoenix area family?



"Age old battles between good and evil"... So this is the new Patriot Movement call to arms? Do they even realize what they're implicitly admitting? Do they realize what Cliven Bundy just revealed to us?

And do the "TEA" powered politicians & "TEA" flavored media pundits realize they're (again) encouraging some rather dangerous behavior with their incendiary rhetoric? "War on whites"? Rape? Ebola? World War II? Really?

And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Craven) wonders why his caucus has gone off the deep end?

Full Circle of Hate

Already, it's gone from a humanitarian crisis to a political football. And now, the usual G-O-TEA suspects want to make #Murrieta into their new rallying cry.

Just keep in mind that this didn't start with the Murrieta bus blockade. This didn't even start with the growing media attention to the Central American migrant children. No, the 21st Century Know Nothings have been around for some time. And they've been making the same arguments against scores of immigrants that they're now using against the migrant children.

In Murrieta last week, the Mayor and anti-immigrant protesters were claiming fear of "diseases". This didn't come from nowhere. For many years, the Federation for American Immigration Rwform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and Numbers USA have been spreading their signature message of hate. And it's no coincidence that they're all so eerily on message like this. They can all trace their origins to one John Tanton, a well known racist/white supremacist who's been attacking communities of color since 1969.

During the early years of Tanton's anti-immigrant advocacy, he operated in the dark shadows of American politics. But in 1994, one Barbara Coe launched a campaign that would forever transform California and American politics. In 1994, Coe launched both the California Coalition for Immigration Reform and the campaign for Proposition 187. Suddenly, John Tanton's radical xenophobic "philosophy" was making national headlines and California public policy.



That's because Prop 187 passed in November 1994. But soon after it was passed, it was halted in federal court and later invalidated. Barbara Coe would then go on to embrace "fringe of the fringe" conspiracy theory powered extremism (Hello, Orly Taitz!) before she passed away last September. And as a result of the California Republican Party's then unapologetic support of Prop 187, it's becoming increasingly irrelevant in the multicultural California of today.

Yet even though Prop 187 and its #1 cheerleader have met their demise, their legacy lives on. Barbara Coe essentially launched Jim Gilchrist's political career. Jim Gilchrist encouraged the "unique brand of activism" pushed by Shawna Forde. And the anti-immigrant movement built by the likes of Tanton, Coe, & Gilchrist encouraged Sharron Angle to shock Nevada & the nation with her incredibly xenophobic US Senate campaign.



Oh, and John Tanton hasn't gone anywhere. In fact, Tanton's network of anti-immigrant outfits succeeded in convincing most Congressional Republicans (and even a few conservative Democrats as well) in 2006 to kill a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) proposal that then President George W. Bush championed. And John Tanton's network has deep ties to the Minutemen movement that Jim Gilchrist founded.

Even Gilchrist himself later admitted that his Minutemen movement attracted a number of fringe characters. Those fringe characters include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and convicted murderers J.T. Ready & Shawna Forde.

The Minutemen movement has also "graduated" "movement leaders" like Connie Foust. She had been part of the Minutemen vigilante patrols along the Arizona Border. But now, she's in charge of the Virgin Valley TEA Party. And earlier this year, her Virgin Valley TEA Party rallied hard behind Cliven Bundy and his radical right militia fueled "Range War" against federal law.



Is it really any surprise that Cliven Bundy is now endorsing the Murrieta bus blockade? Both have been merrily endorsed by Fox "News". Both have embraced dangerous extremists and their radical anti-government ideology. Both are angling for an epic political comeback. And both celebrate extreme xenophobia.

Now, the full circle of hate is complete.

They Broke the Law

He broke the law. It was obvious to many that he broke the law. Yet somehow, he amassed his own militia to fight a "Range War". And at one point, he became a media darling celebrated by "TEA" powered pundits & politicians across the nation.

Cliven Bundy exploded onto the national media stage with his outrageous views on Constitutional law, community relations, and civil rights. He even convinced a bunch of G-O-TEA politicians to stand with him in urging law enforcement agencies to stop enforcing the law.

After about 3 weeks of bumbling around this issue, outgoing Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie (R) has finally admitted that Cliven Bundy needs to be "held accountable" for breaking the law. We can only wonder if the murder of Metro Police Officers Alyn Beck & Igor Soldo (along with civilian Joseph Robert Wilcox) by two #BundyRanch "super fans" has finally registered with him.

In recent weeks, we've been digging deep into the dark side of the "Patriot Movement" that its allegedly "mainstream" "TEA" tinged allies prefer that we not notice. And in doing so, we've been reminded of the lurid story of Jim Gilchrist and Shawna Forde. Jim Gilchrist was once a Congressional candidate in Orange County, California, who managed to turn a long-shot local campaign into a national movement. And Shawna Forde ultimately became his right-hand woman on the Arizona Border after raising hell in Washington State. Gilchrist, Forde, and their army of Minutemen ultimately succeeded in killing comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) in 2006.



But when Shawna Forde was arrested in 2009 for the murder of Raul & Brisenia Flores, Gilchrist suddenly denied his extensive working relationship with Forde. He even later embarked on a "rebranding campaign". After all, how better to respond to evidence of encouraging criminal behavior than to "rebrand" oneself as a "kinder, gentler anti-immigrant demagogue"?



Jim Gilchrist is back. In the wake of the Murrieta bus blockade, Gilchrist has declared his interest in restarting Minutemen vigilante patrols along the entire US Border. And already, some "TEA" powered activists are vowing to start patrolling South Texas.

Ironically, anti-immigrant extremists claim they just want to "enforce the law". But as the Obama Administration is taking action to enforce current law regarding these Central American migrant children, the 21st Century Know Nothings are now breaking the law... And encouraging violent "revolution"?

When & where have we heard this before? Would Sheriff Gillespie like to explain? Would Cliven Bundy like to discuss this? Would the residents of Bunkerville & Mesquite like to chime in? Perhaps we should also extend the invitation to the families of Officers Beck & Soldo?



They broke the law. It's becoming increasingly obvious to many that they broke the law. Ironically, they're crying about "enforcing the law" while they're breaking the law... And threatening even more violent & illegal activities.

("TEA" flavored) Politicians who are rushing to celebrate the Murrieta bus blockade and encourage even more of these activities need to think twice before going any further down this path. After all, they claim to care so much about "enforcing the law".