Battleground Mississippi (and Florida)

The hacktivist collective known as Anonymous has denied involvement in a data-dump on Monday that incorrectly outed several politicians as being members of the Ku Klux Klan.
 
My attention was immediately drawn to this matter because included in the list was Kent Guinn, Mayor of Ocala, Florida. I know Mayor Guinn well enough to have his private cell number. Needless to say, he was more shocked than I to see his name on such a short list and didn't blink to tell me so.
 
All nine politicians listed in that file (4 US Senators and 5 Mayors) have since issued public denials of their involvement with any hate groups, all of them, like Mayor Guinn, expressing shock, hurt and outrage over the allegations.
 
Anonymous finally made good on its much-hyped threat Thursday, releasing a list through Twitter. Anonymous said the list included people who were "quite dangerous, sociopathic individuals. Others are not," and it was purported to include members of various KKK groups and their "closest associates." The group claimed that the list was compiled through "social engineering" and "human intelligence," by speaking with experts, parsing public records, and chatting online with some KKK members online using secret clan greetings. Anonymous said the compilation was legit because the names came "straight from the KKK."

Author David Cunningham, who wrote a book on the KKK, was unimpressed with the Anonymous leak and doesn't really consider the KKK enough of a threat to be targeted by Anonymous. "I'm having trouble seeing the unmasking of people who have a public profile who wouldn't have been already tied to this world. I've had trouble wrapping my head around the Anonymous promise because, while I agree the Klan can be dangerous, I don't see that they're infiltrating society. A good chunk of those people are willing to publicly admit their roles."

"Imperial Wizard" Frank Ancona said he is one of very few members who will actually use their real name in profiles. More to the point, the KKK "doesn't have a computerized database [of members] that they could hack into."

Anonymous expert Gabriella Coleman stated the unmasking, "was a mixed bag with unverifiable information."

What I do believe imperative to point out is that the KKK is NOT a Southern organization! The Modern Day KKK is a YANKEE institution, a MICHIGAN corporation. The KKK reportedly has more members in the State of Indiana than in the other 49 states combined.
Also, the original clan, the one founded in Tennessee by Nathan Bedford Forest, was ABOLISHED at the end of "reconstruction." The modern day "KKK" was instituted in 1925.

They may use similar names and where similar uniforms, but they are NOT the same institutions!

The original clan was an organization of Southern gentleman who banded together to fight the injustices of "Northern Reconstruction" in the war-subjugated South.

The original clan would have ridden to bring justice to a Yankee soldier raping a black woman just as quickly as they did to bring justice to the Yankee soldier who would have raped a white woman. The original clan was not a racist organization and in fact it had several black members as well as white.

One of the earliest films depicting the history of the original clan, and also giving an accurate history of the War Between the States from a Southern perspective, was D. W. Griffith's epic masterpiece, "The Birth of a Nation."

This was the first "full-length" motion picture ever produced. Prior to its release, no film had ever been made that was longer than 17 minutes.

This was the first film to cost more than a million dollars to produce.

And it was such a moving telling of the War Between the States and Reconstruction era that President Woodrow Wilson required every member of Congress to come to the White House to view it.

We would like for you to see this epic masterpiece on DVD! You can order a DVD of "Birth of a Nation" for just $10 (includes postage to anywhere in the US or Canada).

Order BIRTH OF A NATION on DVD:

Like so many things "Southern" through the years this great movie has been attacked and demonized. And while not generally available in stores, is still in production 100 years after its original release. It will make a great addition to your home movie collection.


(Associated Press) TUPELO, Miss. -  A man who's known for flying a 4-foot-long Mississippi state flag on his car has been accused of bombing a Walmart in Tupelo because the chain stopped selling the flag, the police chief said Monday.

The explosive made a loud bang but did no damage when it was thrown early Sunday into the 24-hour Walmart, Police Chief Bart Aguirre said Monday. He said bomb technicians reported that the package held enough explosive material to damage the store if it had been assembled differently.

Marshall E. Leonard of Tupelo, a northeast Mississippi city of 34,500, was jailed on a charge of detonating an explosive, and police were searching his car and home, Aguirre said.
Walmart is among retailers that stopped selling merchandise bearing reproductions of the Confederate battle flag - which makes up the upper left section of the Mississippi state flag - after the June 17 killing of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Some Mississippi cities and institutions also have stopped flying the state flag.
"He's a strong supporter of keeping that flag flying. ... This is his way of bringing attention to that," Aguirre said.

Leonard did not yet have an attorney who could comment Monday, Aguirre said. His bond hearing probably will be held Tuesday, and the judge will appoint an attorney if Leonard, who lives alone and has no job, cannot afford one, the police chief said.

Aguirre says Leonard allegedly lit a newspaper-wrapped package and threw it into the store around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

"An employee was sitting in the vestibule taking a break," Aguirre said. "He told the employee to run - that he was going to blow the place up. He throws this package into the front entrance of Walmart. He flees and the employee flees."

He said Leonard's silver Mazda is bedecked with stickers of the Mississippi state flag and the Confederate battle flag, and it sports a big state flag on a flexible pole. Leonard was arrested about 2 a.m. for running a red light near the Walmart, Aguirre said.
 
   Editor's Note: I do not know if the man who detonated the explosive is actually the man accused of doing so? Nor do I know if his motive was the one being reported? But what I do know is that there were a LOT of articles and news items this week all aimed to take down the State flag of Mississippi. The liberals in this country will NOT rest until Mississippi gives in and takes down its flag. It seems that the enemies of Southern cultures have chosen to strike directly at the strongest places. Their thinking, no doubt, is that when the strong fall the weak will fall with them. South Carolina was the LAST State I would have ever thought would have taken down the flag. They were attacked and they did. Many in the Southern Heritage ranks have since said that Mississippi will not buckle. The governor of the State has also said so. The result, all of the forces of evil have focused themselves like a laser-beam on Mississippi. It is quickly becoming Battleground #1. Pray for Mississippi!


Both senators in Mississippi

Earlier this week, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, BOTH REPUBLICANS, have called to remove the Confederate emblem from the State flag in Mississippi.

Alabama's governor ordered all Confederate flags to be taken down at the state Capitol. 
 


  
Muslim-led Group wants Confederate soldier statue removed from Lake Eola Park
 
An Orlando group led by Ali Ahmed that calls itself "Organize Now" is calling upon the Mayor's office to remove the 100 year old Confederate monument in Lake Eola Park.

The statue was erected downtown by a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1911 and moved to Lake Eola Park in 1917, according to the Florida Public Archaeology Network.

The memorial is a tall, marble obelisk capped by a soldier. It rests between the lake's east shore and North Eola Drive. Its inscription reads, in part: "The monument shall stand through the years to come as our loving tribute to the Confederate soldier and as a memorial of his heroic courage, his unparalleled devotion and his unselfish patriotism."

Heather Fagan, Mayor Dyer's deputy chief of staff, said several people had contacted City Hall, both for and against moving the statue. In a statement, she said the Mayor's Office is "exploring options" for the statue's future. 
 
Commissioner Patty Sheehan, whose district includes Lake Eola, said the statute first came onto her radar in 2009, when Orlando hosted Super Bowl festivities at the park and some football players complained about it. Sheehan said she explored moving it to Greenwood Cemetery but was dissuaded by the estimated expense.
 
Patricia Schnurr, a member and former president of the UDC chapter that erected the Confederate memorial, said Wednesday that the statue should stay, insisting its message has nothing to do with slavery or racism. "There's no correlation, and none of this makes sense to me. ... it was put up to honor the Confederate soldiers," she said.

Sheehan described her current feelings as conflicted. Like it or not, it is part of Orlando's history, she said, but "the last thing I want to do is offend anyone" who comes to the park.
Commissioner Regina Hill, one of two black members of the City Council, said she supports removing the memorial. The statue's intent was well-meaning, she said, but "times have changed." "We're a progressive city, and we're all about inclusion, so I think, due to the climate that's associated with the Confederate flag and Confederate objects, they more so belong in a museum," she said.

On Wednesday evening, Orlando's Fox affiliate reported in their 11 pm news broadcast that several museums had been contacted by the Mayor's office about possibly receiving the statue and that none of the museums contacted would agree to receive the statue.

Today, Orlando's channel 9 reported that the city has received more phone calls and petition signatures in favor of keeping the statue than they have received asking them to remove it. That does not mean that this issue will go away. City governments are well-known for caving into vocal minorities and it does not appear that the minority calling for this statue's removal is going to quiet down any time soon.  
 

FLORIDA SENATE CONTINUES "CONFEDERATE" PURGE

This week the report from Tallahassee was that, "It's going to take a while to use up all the Senate stationery imprinted with the old seal, and to replace the emblems on some office doors. But it will get done." Mind you that the State Senate has not actually voted to change its seal yet, they will not do so until January. But the committees pushing for the change are reporting it to be as good as passed.

Now they are targeting the 10-by-16-foot mural that greets visitors in the Senate's fifth-floor gallery. It features not only the flag, but also Gen. Joseph Finnegan, commander of Southern troops at the Battle of Olustee.

After 37 years, the mural is faded and frayed and several senators say that they want it removed. Tallahassee attorney Jeff Howell last week wrote to Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, urging preservation of the artwork.

"While we understand that the Florida Senate recently took affirmative steps to update the Senate seal and insignia, preservation of the 'Five Flags Mural' is an entirely separate and distinct issue," Howell wrote. "Put simply, the mural is art which should not be destroyed. Further, the commissioning and long-term display of this art is part of the Florida Senate's history."


RECEIVED FROM ONE OF OUR READERS

Retired US Congressman Ben Jones, many of you remember him as Cooter on the TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard," is a subscriber to our newsletter. He eMails the following in response to last week's item on the sppech that Ambassador Young gave to delegates at Morehouse College:

I attended the forum at Morehouse, which was sponsored by the Andrew Young Foundation and entitled "The Confederate Flag: Forgiveness and Reconciliation".
I was outspoken in my defense of my Confederate Heritage and was treated with great and genuine hospitality by those in attendance, even though many disagreed with my point of view.

Having served in the U.S. Congress from Atlanta, I knew many of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and I have enormous respect for Ambassador Young. 
 
It would be a fine thing if this could be a beginning of genuine forgiveness, reconciliation, and brotherhood. I was proud to speak for our ancestors.
 
(Associated Press) SALT LAKE CITY -- A fight outside a Salt Lake City hotel Sunday morning could be investigated as a hate crime, police said Monday.

Cell phone video obtained by Fox 13 in Salt Lake City captured a black man throwing a punch at a white man, who knocked him out. The fight began as an argument over a truck's Confederate flag decal.

The truck belonged to a friend of Kelly Leeper, who was in town for a Garth Brooks concert. Leeper said he looked out his hotel window and saw a group of black men crowded around the truck, which he claimed held $50,000 worth of welding equipment. The truck had a decal of the Confederate flag on the side.

"The point is, it's my right to drive what any kind of vehicle I want," Leeper said. "If I want to fly the Confederate flag, it's my right."

Leeper said the fight turned racial, with slurs going both ways by the time it was over. "I'll be damned if I ever come to Salt Lake again without bringing my gun," Leeper said. The video was turned over to police.

"It could potentially be a hate crime.  We'll then present all that to the district attorney who will make that final determination," said Sgt. Robin Heiden, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Editor's Note: What is not clear is who will be charged with the hate crime. Will it be the blacks or the white?
 
 
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Until next week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed