After nearly shutting down at the end of 2011 due to financial difficulties, William Gheen’s Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) re-launched earlier this month, announcing plans to “deploy” exciting new strategies against “illegal alien supporters” and their evil co-conspirators in government.

In keeping with the grandiose tone of his fancy new website (which many users apparently find harder to use than the old one), Gheen has recast his “battle” as a religious crusade. In a post this week that defies both modesty and the basic laws of grammar, he wrote, “It is my strongest personal belief that this is not just a political battle, but a spiritual war between good and evil, between those who are defending their homes and trying to conserve what is good about America Vs. aggressive invaders who have overthrown our Republic and taken control of the Executive Branch to further their goals. If my spiritual beliefs offend anyone, then I have no regrets.” ( continue to full post… )

Adding an extra layer of surreality to the already farcical Georgia proceedings regarding President Obama’s constitutional eligibility for office, neither the defendant nor his counsel appeared at this morning’s hearing before an administrative law judge.

Yesterday, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp refused a last-minute request by the president’s attorney to cancel the hearing. Arguing that the administrative judge, Michael Malihi, has “exercised no control whatsoever over this proceeding,” Obama lawyer Michael Jablonski asked Kemp to “bring an end to this baseless, costly and unproductive hearing” before it further debased his office and the reputation of Georgia.

Kemp declined, writing that “if you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the … proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.” ( continue to full post… )

Anti-liberal propaganda has been ramping up for years. Former Fox News host Glenn Beck, who was cited as an inspiration for at least three rightwing extremists accused of committing or plotting violence, called himself a “progressive hunter” and attempted to rebrand Hitler as a leftist. Anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney routinely warns of a “red-green” alliance between liberals and violent Islamist terrorists.  But the people behind a website called “Target of Opportunity” (motto: “Eliminating the planet of liberals one at a time”) have taken things several steps further, creating a “Hit List” profiling supposed liberal enemies of America.

“This website is a list and record of people that betray and endanger America by their Seditious, Treasonous, and/or Terrorist activities,” its homepage reads. “Operating under the false illusion of Peaceful and Non-Violent activism, their methods are anything but Peaceful and Non-Violent. These people present a serious threat to all Americans. Each and every one of them should be considered a “TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY.” ( continue to full post… )

DUNCAN, Okla. — The second trial of self-described Oath Keeper Charles Dyer, who is accused of raping his 7-year-old daughter in 2010, came to an abrupt end on Tuesday when a judge declared a mistrial after discovering the district attorney’s office had improper conduct with jurors.

District Attorney James Walters had not yet finished examining his first witness, Dyer’s wife Valerie, when the court learned that three jurors in had received a follow-up questionnaire for their service in another case. The surveys, which ask jurors for their opinions on how the proceedings were conducted, are standard procedure.

But Stephens County District Judge Joe Enos said there was no way Dyer’s trial could proceed in good faith –– even if the questionnaires had nothing to do with Dyer’s case. “It could very well have had an impact,” Enos told the court. The judge scheduled a new trial for April 16. ( continue to full post… )

How could the founder of a virulently racist, anti-Semitic group whose leaders urge violence against whites and the police be appointed to a Dallas group that advises elected leaders on how to improve homeland security?

That’s the burning question, as the Dallas County Commission cancelled a vote today on the reappointment of Aaron McCarthy, founder of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), to an advisory committee on the county’s emergency management system. McCarthy has served on the group since last September.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said the area’s interim homeland security director suggested to him suspending or disbanding the advisory group because, so far, it’s been redundant and unproductive — not because of McCarthy’s role on it. That’s the reason Jenkins said he asked County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who had appointed McCarthy, to withdraw the name. Price did so. ( continue to full post… )

Like this winter’s near-record snowfall in Alaska, federal criminal charges keep piling up against imprisoned militia leader Francis Schaeffer Cox.

With six additional federal charges filed in a superseding indictment just last Friday, the trial for Cox and Alaska Peacemaker Militia co-defendants Coleman L. Barney and Lonnie G. Vernon has been postponed from Feb. 6 to May 6.

The new federal indictment now includes federal murder conspiracy charges similar to state charges dismissed against Cox last October after a state judge ruled audio and video recording made during a six-month FBI investigation wouldn’t be admissible in state court. Those recordings and testimony from two confidential informants are expected to be the backbone of the federal prosecution. ( continue to full post… )

A Georgia administrative law judge has left in place a subpoena directing President Obama to appear at a hearing on Thursday regarding a “birther” complaint challenging the president’s eligibility for office.

Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi issued his decision Friday, writing that the president’s legal team “failed to enlighten the court with any legal authority” to back up its argument that no U.S. president should be compelled to attend a court hearing. They also failed to prove that attending the hearing would be “unreasonable and oppressive” and that the president’s testimony would be “irrelevant, immaterial or cumulative,” he wrote.

Orly Taitz, who filed one of the complaints and has for years led the farcical battle to prove that the president is constitutionally unqualified for office, called Malihi’s decision a “major victory.” ( continue to full post… )

A self-described “sovereign citizen” – part of what the FBI recently described as a growing and dangerous antigovernment movement – goes on trial this week near Fort Worth, Texas, on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant.

James Michael Tesi is accused of shooting at police officer John Fossett in the Fort Worth suburb of Hurst last July 21 when the officer attempted to arrest Tesi on a warrant. As frequently occurs with sovereign citizens, people who believe federal and state laws don’t apply to them, the potentially deadly shooting involving the police officer started as a relatively minor traffic infraction.

The danger of contact between police and sovereign citizens was underscored in an important report released just four months ago by FBI analysts who say sovereigns pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat. That report followed by more than a year the notorious May 20, 2010, murders of two West Memphis, Ark., police officers by a father-son team of sovereigns; both were later killed by police. ( continue to full post… )

Always eager for the next outrage, the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church — already infamous worldwide for its “God Hates Fags” website and its regular picketing of American soldiers’ funerals — says it will picket the funeral of Penn State football coaching legend Joe Paterno.

The church, largely composed of pastor Fred Phelps and his extended family, regularly claims that people who have been killed at war, in accidents and by murderers are God’s way of punishing America for “enabling fags.” Its decision to picket Paterno’s still-unscheduled funeral is based on Paterno’s role in a sex scandal involving his long-time assistant’s alleged molestation of young boys. Paterno, who died of lung cancer Sunday, was fired by Penn State after Jerry Sandusky was arrested late last year. ( continue to full post… )

Long-time racist August B. Kreis III says he’s stepping down as leader of a splinter faction of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, just weeks after being convicted of federal fraud-related charges.

Kreis, who’s reported to be suffering from diabetes-related health problems, doesn’t give a specific reason for quitting in his Internet posting, but says his successor is Pastor Drew Bostwick, who has lived in Iowa and been active in the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. ( continue to full post… )