Extremists worry FBI
The FBI has put out another warning about extremists who threaten our nation’s security, but strangely enough, it’s not Muslim extremists who’ve been rather active the last few years. rather it’s those “anti-government” terrorists, you know – the folks who don’t trust government. I don’t know many of those people, do you? (Reuters link)
Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.
These extremists, sometimes known as “sovereign citizens,” believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.
The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.
Oh, wait, maybe I do know some of those people…in fact I might be one of them given these clarifications.
Legal convictions of such extremists, mostly for white-collar crimes such as fraud, have increased from 10 in 2009 to 18 each in 2010 and 2011, FBI agents said.
“We are being inundated right now with requests for training from state and local law enforcement on sovereign-related matters,” said Casey Carty, an FBI supervisory special agent.
Whew, law enforcement is being mobbed by 18 whole people across the country. But that’s up from 10 people the year before, so there’s definitely something to be concerned about.
Sovereign members often express particular outrage at tax collection, putting Internal Revenue Service employees at risk.
So, no real Americans are at risk?
So we’ve got local law enforcement worried about veterans and now errant tax payers. Next the FBI will be warning us that puppies want to bite our ankles.
Thanks to Old Trooper for that link.
Category: Usual Suspects
Catching terrorists s *hard*. Catching loons, rap “music” fans and vets is easy peasy!
Seriously, I worry that the FBI is slipping back to the days of Hoover. They let organized crime grow while on a snipe hunt for communists in the 50’s and early 60’s.
I think Zero is probably on a short list. Which will probably have him building a better bunker. In reality, though the guys they’re targeting are such a minority you have to try to find them.
Actually it seems like the “Janet Reno” defense plan. I mean who cares about that Osama guy, there’s some Branch Dividians that don’t want to give up their guns! You’re telling me that a family is defying a federal order because they want to protect a child whose mother literally died to get him here? Send in the f**king Marshals, locked and cocked.
She was even considered sexy by liberal standards. *shudder*
I remember all this same shit when I was contracted to the IRS in DC back in the mid-to-late 90’s. This “outrage at tax collection, putting Internal Revenue Service employees at risk”, was used to justify arming the shit out of agents, up to and including office workers in the field. They also had preferred parking at some facilities, citing the potential for violence against IRS employees. What did they do for us contractors who showed up at the same exact offices and wore the same exact credentials? Nothing. In fact, one of the nastiest experiences I had at the IRS revolved around trivial shit like the size of my computer monitor and the size of the office I shared with two other contractors. Now I’m not saying people deserve to be threatened, but if there were ever a bunch of folks who toed the “just doing my job” line, it’s the IRS.
This is what they are worried about:
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/arkansas/070110-wm-shooters-claimed-to-be-%22sovereign-citizens%22
Basically people just ignoring the law because they think we operate under Admiralty law from the 18th and 19th century. It’s retarded people unwilling to take part in reality and they can be incredibly dangerous, just like Anarchists. They are not just errant tax evaders and veterans, they are extremists.
The “Sovereign citizens” are a special bunch, though. They’re the ones who will try to avoid property tax by claiming the land was stolen from the Indians, so the government has no right to taxes, but will happily live there on the stolen land. My mother had to appraise one such property for foreclosure (They don’t feel they should pay mortgages, either), and the appraisers and possessors had to have armed deputies escort them onto the property. Even after it was legally seized for non-payment, the “sovereign citizens” were still there.
They believe that if a court has a flag with a gold fringe, it’s an “admiralty court” and has no legal standing. Or that it’s a UN court.
They’ll tell you that this or that military installation is the “largest UN training center in America.” (Yeah, that’s still going on). They take photos of rail-trucked vehicles going to NTC and claim it as proof of a “UN invasion.”
They believe that by claiming to be “Sovereign citizens” they don’t need drivers’ licenses, to pay sales tax, income tax, abide by any laws.
Now, I don’t like a lot of those laws myself, but I’m under no illusion that I can just say, “I’m not playing, so there!”
Basically, they’re OWS wannabes. They want it for free, they want you to pay for it, and they don’t want to do anything in return. It’s theirs, though, and you owe them.
In that SPECIFIC context, yes, they’re potentially dangerous.
My concern would be that the recipients of this memo be given some case examples for guidance, because without knowing that particular reference, yes, it could refer to a lot of us.
The murder of the two West Memphis LEOs by the Kanes was one of the most sickening pieces of dash cam video I’ve ever seen.
Later that day, seeing Kane the elder and his little bitch of a son (who actually did the shooting of the two officers) have their sorry asses thoroughly ventilated in a WalMart parking lot put a huge smile on my face.
Unfortunately, they managed to serious wound a responding Sheriff and one of his Deputies before they began their “Express Elevator to Hell” rides.
Seeing that little punk stretched out next to their shot up van was very, very sweet.
Bottomline: Sovereign Citizens are Bat Shit Crazy and need to be opposed…by any means necessary.
@5 are you the actual Michael Z. Williamson? Amazon told me last night via recommendations to start reading your stuff.
I am the only Michael Z. Williamson. No one else would claim to be me, or I’d question their sanity.
The irony is McVeigh was caught because he had no plate, no DL, and was carrying a gun he didn’t need and had no CCW for.
Again, I oppose the existence of all these documents, but I comply with the law because the courts say I must and I know I won’t win the fight.
He got pulled over, told the cop he didn’t need a DL, cop noticed the gun, he told the cop, “You don’t need to worry about that,” got detained, got connected.
Had he had a valid plate and DL, and not carried non-essential equipment on his mission, it’s entirely possible he’d have driven off and still be at large.
Being stupid, though, does not stop them from being dangerous.
Can we say: fanatics are dangerous whatever their cause? Spoiled brats and crazy people can also be dangerous. Yes, the parallels between OWS and every other bunch of self-centered fools who are totally consumed with what they want rather than what they or anyone else needs are stunning.
@8, sweet.
I think it came up because I gave Ringo a 5 star in my recommendation thing for Last Centurian, which I still think should be mandatory reading for all milbloggers. Although the protagonist seemed eerily like Chuck Z.
Just sent Freehold to my kindle. Will read this weekend.
Review the information on the Montana Freeman / Justus Township, Montana.
That is pretty much the archtypical “sovereign citizen” setup. What they did there and what happened there just about covers it.
I thought it was unAmerican NOT to cheat on your taxes!
@13
That’s what the Secretary of the Treasury tells me.
@#13, Isn’t that a requirement for a job in this administration?
FlyingCowOfDoom @ #4, I LOVE your name, lol… (just had to say that). Also, very good points.
@TSO
OT; Dude Michael ROCKS,Freehold what US should be. I love all things BAEN. Ringo,Kratman,Travis Taylor and Michael all ROCK AND NO PUSSYASS LIBTARD SHIT!