Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Police: Hostage Taker in Alabama Standoff Has ‘Anti-America’ Views
The man who ignited a hostage standoff in southern Alabama when he shot a bus driver and took a child into an underground bunker is a “survivalist” who has antigovernment views, an official with the Dale County Sheriff’s Office told Hatewatch this morning.
The gunman is identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a Vietnam veteran. On Tuesday afternoon, Dykes allegedly stormed into a school bus in Midland City, Ala., shooting the bus driver four times with a 9 mm pistol before taking a child to an underground bunker behind his home. The bus driver, identified as 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., later died.
Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff’s Office, told Hatewatch that Dykes had “anti-America” views. “His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD,” Byrd said. “He was standoffish, didn’t socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type.”
Law enforcement officials said the hostage, a 6-year-old boy who has not been identified, “is okay” and had recently been delivered some needed medication. Police continue to communicate with Dykes through a PVC pipe leading into the bunker. Officials have cancelled classes at local schools, and Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson cautioned local residents to avoid the scene.
It was not immediately clear what prompted Dykes to storm the bus, but his motives appear to be related to a menacing charge in December. That month, Dykes pointed a gun at his neighbor, James Edward Davis Dr., who told the Dothan Eagle that Dykes accused him of driving on his yard. Dykes was scheduled to have a bench trial today on the charge, and an unidentified girl who Dykes released from the bus told reporters that Dykes was referring to his upcoming case.
A neighbor of Dykes, who identified himself as Mike Creel, said that Dykes moved on to his property about two years ago and began building an underground bunker, measuring about four by six feet and eight feet deep, right away, according to WSFA-TV. “It’s the craziest thing,” Davis told the Dothan Eagle. “He will be outside in his yard digging at 2:30 in the morning.”
on January 30th, 2013 at 11:01 am
Neighbors say he has “anti-American views” according to the sheriff. The neighbors interviewed by the writer just say he is a survivalist who was weird, dug a storm shelter in non-tornado-prone area, had PTSD and was standoffish. Since he “didn’t socialize or have any contact with anybody.”, how did they know he had PTSD? How did the neighbors connect him with any movement?
His contacts with the law have been individual contacts of a violent person, not the kind that connect a person to a movement or terrorist organization.
How does this connect to a national audience? There are people out there who are unusual and violent in every community. There is, to the best of my knowledge no organization that binds them.
on January 30th, 2013 at 11:27 am
This guy would not, presumably, have been a prohibited purchaser and would have passed a background check.
The problem here is that Alabama doesn’t take menacing with a gun very seriously. I suspect that had this happened in New York, the guy would have been arraigned and required to surrender his weapons as a condition of bail.
A very preventable murder is the result of our red-state-Bible-Belt gun culture. Hopefully the carnage will be limited to that one death.
on January 30th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
It’s called stochastic terrorism. If you’re a Glenn Beck, a Rush Limbaugh, a Sean Hannity, you don’t shoot disliked people or members of disliked groups yourself. You just keep exercising your First Amendment rights until some whack job with access to weapons exercises your Second Amendment rights for you.
on January 30th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Southern Alabama, huh? Why am I not surprised…
It’s true that there are unhinged, violent individuals in every community, and I’d be interested to know if this particular gentleman has any connections with the Tea Party.
on January 30th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Taking a wild guess here. If he is paranoid, anti-social, and keeps to himself, I seriously doubt he has any affiliation with any party/group/organization.
on January 30th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Another Tea Party Libertarian, Alex Jones fan, Ron Paul follower, & Fox “News” viewer no doubt.
This is the result of right-wing disinfo politics.
As a news junky, I’ve seen this growing since about 2006ish when the Dems took back Congress.
:(
on January 30th, 2013 at 3:27 pm
So Cindy Bidwell Glaze, you basically have no information and are going off of your gut here, right? Just about what we’ve come to expect form the wingnut murder apologists.
on January 30th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
I wonder if “survivalists” actually survive fewer years than others because they so often go off the deep end like this guy, or otherwise fry their bodies with paranoid stress.
on January 30th, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Are there any hate groups that consider this guy a hero or support what he is doing?
on January 30th, 2013 at 8:34 pm
Actually a product of GOVERNMENT.
Vietnam Vet…PTSD…get a CLUE!
Trained by the government to KILL.
Trained by the government to accept at times COLLATERAL DAMAGE.
Treated by government AFTERWARDS to basically “Thanks a lot for your service! Here’s a big bag of meds you couldn’t even get a doctor outside the military hosp. to prescribe….now…get the f out of here. You’re treated!” No wonder why the guy distrusts them.
Now somehow naive idiots..think that after government BEATs into the head “kill, kill, kill, kill”…and have them do it on command…and then treats them like crap….that somehow for the victims of this, that is doesn’t impact them for life. Huh? Notice all the people who label this guy from the left…yet where were the cries from the left to help the guy wayyyyy back when???
on January 30th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
A classic case that begs to know why this individual still has
lethal weapons in his possession(?). If there was a restraining order against him, then that is the trigger that the local authorities need to visit him and confiscate any dangerous and lethal weapons. Classic case of how we should start using these incidents to get gun control legislation into law. You can not leave something like that to state government, especially in this state.
on January 30th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
SPLC did some great work back in the day with going after the Klan, but now have become as bad as FOX and MSNBC. They’re only interest is lining their pockets by stoking division. The SPLC needs to be investigated for Fraud on their fundraising practices, they have fallen so far from where they started, it’s sad.
on January 30th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
“Dykes had not been on the law center’s radar before the shooting and standoff, and there was nothing to suggest he was a member of any hate group, said senior fellow Mark Potok”(Wilkinson ).
Now why would he be on your radar or any others than law enforcement.
Wilkinson , K. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/man-shoo.....12702.html
on January 31st, 2013 at 4:25 am
Richard/Copenhagen, Denmark
The major problem here is not just the possession of a firearm, which is incredibly common in Alabama, but that the American armed services do not recognize the seriousness of war related psychological disorders and that even though there is offered treatment at a VA hospital that this treatment should be more widespread and easily and continually available. The traditional acceptance of war by the American public is also a major problem here, and one of the major causes of gun related deaths in the USA. If the national government did not support war as an economic investment, and thereby an investment in many poor, young men’s lives this kind of situation could be prevented. But that thought is too idealist and too wild for the American public today!
on January 31st, 2013 at 7:36 am
Any person with a protective order against them is barred from possession or purchase of a firearm. I am interested to know if he has ever been convicted of any crimes.
on January 31st, 2013 at 9:02 am
Quite a few of us did, and do, know how veterans are being treated. Dammit, we try. Notwithstanding that the caseloads of every legislator are stuffed with veterans who have been screwed out of their benefits, nothing budges, because the VA has become overloaded with types who think that, once a serviceperson is past use, they have become a *bad investment*. You can thank Friedman economics for that.
Meanwhile, Jay, note that you sent in your scurrilous spew in full confidence it would be published, which it was.
on January 31st, 2013 at 9:04 am
While “Anti-America” views are very worrisome, personally i find “Anti-Erika” views to be much more worrisome ;)
And Cindy, ask the people in Tuscaloosa if they consider Alabama to be a low risk for tornados.
on January 31st, 2013 at 10:58 am
anti american or anti goverment which is it there not the same thing you know.Thomas jefferson said a patriot foremost responsbilty is to protect his country from his goverment ] remember people they are not the same thing !
on January 31st, 2013 at 10:59 am
He is evidently still holding the boy, for whom he has allowed food, medicine, and toys to be loaded into the bunker through some type of pipe. Evidently, he has shown signs of clinical paranoia for some time before this, and you can’t rule out that the illness was directed and the final crisis triggered by the prevailing state of rhetoric.
on January 31st, 2013 at 11:16 am
dick said,
“Actually a product of GOVERNMENT. Vietnam Vet…PTSD…get a CLUE! … yet where were the cries from the left to help the guy wayyyyy back when???”
First, congratulations on having chosen a totally appropriate screen name. Second, the left (and a big part of the center) was busy marching in the streets of Washington, D.C., carrying signs demanding that the government “Bring the Boys Home Now!” in that “wayyyyy back when” during the Vietnam War when Mr. Dykes was acquiring his PTSD. I know because I was one of them. How do you know any of the things you’re so emphatic about?
Jay said,
“SPLC did some great work back in the day with going after the Klan, but now have become as bad as FOX and MSNBC. They’re only interest is lining their pockets by stoking division. The SPLC needs to be investigated for Fraud on their fundraising practices, they have fallen so far from where they started, it’s sad.”
Congratulations to you for being the one-millionth troll to repeat this specious meme. Now, would you care to be the first to actually attempt to provide some evidence to support this libellous claim?
More generally, Mr. Dykes’ case seems to be added evidence that you don’t have to be psychologically damaged to be an extremist, but it helps. If the right wing weren’t so insistent on cut-cut-cutting spending, Mr. Dykes might have been provided with better alternatives than anti-government conspiracism and hostage-taking as ways of expressing whatever it is he’s trying to express.
on January 31st, 2013 at 11:43 am
When law enforcement use terms like “survivalist” and “anti-government” they often do so generically and not with any knowledge that would actually link the person in question to an extremist movement of some sort. That seems to be the case here. I have so far been unable to find evidence of ideological extremism on the alleged shooter’s part. This blog article certainly seems to be “ahead of the story.”
on January 31st, 2013 at 12:58 pm
I trust the government to kill far more people than any lone nut ever has. And of course, the government trained Jimmy Lee Dykes and set him on the path to mental health in their honorable and necessary war in Vietnam. Two to four million Vietnamese were killed in a war started over the Gulf of Tonkin incident which never actually occurred except in the honest and above board government reports.
Glad to see that so many people maintain faith in the elite class with guns and prisons who couldn’t be bothered to do anything about Jimmy Lee Dykes when he beat his neighbor’s dog to death and then shot at other neighbors.
It’s heartening to know that when Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded that bus with the intent to kill and kidnap that the government was able to protect the citizenry by responding after the fact. It makes me want to throw away my right to self defense and take comfort in the tender mercies of faraway strangers who really do care about me and take every possible step to ensure my safety.
on January 31st, 2013 at 1:03 pm
It’s obvious, just like the murderer in Connecticut, if we would just reach out and offer kindness or friendship, or even talk calmly with these types of people, we can try to change the mentally challenged people that walk the streets everyday.
It is in your power! You can make a difference!
on January 31st, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Richard Lee Stevens,
Your ideas are not at all wild. Albert Einstein said something to the effect that humanity would need to develop new ways of thinking to face the challenges of our contemporary world.
In my view the paradigms of nationalism and warfare are equivalent on the large scale to individualism and interpersonal violence on the small scale.
Actual bloodshed is but one manifestation of violence. We see violence to ideas, violence to environment, violence to economy and many other subtle forms of violence all around us every day and accept it as the way things are. I believe it is possible to live differently.
This need not be hell on earth.
on January 31st, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Funny how both the articles and the commenters keep referring to PTSD and the fact that he was a Vietnam vet. Want to know why it’s funny? Jim Dykes isn’t in the Vietman vet database.
on January 31st, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Let’s make everything political why don’t we. So if it weren’t for guns this crazy man would never have committed any crime? Without the guns this man would be otherwise sane and peaceful? And some how this man is in relation to the TEA Party? You people are uterly mad. The TEA Party stands on individual liberty. It is not about destroying the government. Yet their stance on individual liberty is somehow threatening to people to the extent progressives will try to silence their opinion by reducing them to psychopaths. Labeling people who would fight for your freedom even though you dont believe in it and you mock them and call them psychos for wanting to own guns/distrust an obviously corrupt system. I dont want a revolution and neither does any reasonable man. I want common sense, and respect from my government. “Those who would give up liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.”
on January 31st, 2013 at 4:53 pm
* A 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year.
* A 1982 survey of male felons in 11 state prisons dispersed across the U.S. found:
• 34% had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim”
• 40% had decided not to commit a crime because they “knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun”
• 69% personally knew other criminals who had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim”
* At the current homicide rate, roughly one in every 240 Americans will be murdered.
* A U.S. Justice Department study based on crime data from 1974-1985 found:
• 42% of Americans will be the victim of a completed violent crime (assault, robbery, rape) in the course of their lives
• 83% of Americans will be the victim of an attempted or completed violent crime
• 52% of Americans will be the victim of an attempted or completed violent crime more than once
* A 1997 survey of more than 18,000 prison inmates found that among those serving time for a violent crime, “30% of State offenders and 35% of Federal offenders carried a firearm when committing the crime.”
All facts cited at justfacts.com/guncontrol/asp
on January 31st, 2013 at 5:27 pm
This sad case is bad enough without everyone going off beyond conclusive evidence or facts to opportunistically blow their horn for their pet theories. For example, PTSD is a serious and common issue with Viet Nam vets (and others), and VA treatment is often inadequate, but to leap to the conclusion that he was handed “a big bag of medd that you couldn’t get a Dr. outside of the military to prescribe” is way andthen told to “get the f out of here” jumps way ahead of anyone’s headlights as far a I can tell. Every once in a while, a little reason in response to tragedies large and small would be preferable to the instant, angry posturing so many across the spectrum of views jump to.
on January 31st, 2013 at 5:37 pm
I want a world that is safe for all
on January 31st, 2013 at 5:49 pm
This is so sad! What did the bus driver and little boy, have to do with his Anti-American views? Paranoid, anti-social, white male, who thinks, the government is against him! Probably doesn’t like minorities either!
on January 31st, 2013 at 5:59 pm
* Nationwide in 2008, law enforcement agencies reported that 55% of aggravated assaults, 27% of robberies, 40% of rapes, and 64% of murders that were reported to police resulted in an alleged offender being arrested and turned over for prosecution.
* Currently, for every 12 aggravated assaults, robberies, sexual assaults, rapes, and murders committed in the United States, approximately one person is sentenced to prison for committing such a crime.
* A 2002 U.S. Justice Department study of 272,111 felons released from state prisons in 1994 found that within three years of their release:
• at least 67.5% had been arrested for committing a new offense
• at least 21.6% had been arrested for committing a new violent offense
• these former inmates had been charged with committing at least 2,871 new homicides, 2,444 new rapes, 3,151 other new sexual assaults, 2,362 new kidnappings, 21,245 new robberies, 54,604 new assaults, and 13,854 other new violent crimes
* Of 1,662 murders committed in New York City during 2003-2005, more than 90% were committed by people with criminal records.
Once again all cited at (corrected) justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
SO WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM HERE??? GUNS OR CRIMINALS??
on January 31st, 2013 at 7:28 pm
from Chad: ” The TEA Party stands on individual liberty”
Except for the individual right(s) of women.
on January 31st, 2013 at 7:29 pm
I’m amazed at the number of comments that reflect the mainstream propaganda that this is the fault of so-called “right wingers”, the TEA Party movement, or 2nd Amendment advocates.
What does “Anti-American” mean? It’s just vague enough for the commentators to post a plethora of Non Sequiturs.
How many people here are “pro” smaller paychecks due to higher taxes? If not, does that make you “Anti American” simply because the source is a Government in one of the Americas that is doing it? No, that would be an illogical, unthoughtful remark.
on January 31st, 2013 at 8:30 pm
He would be eligible for a carry permit in Tennessee despite his history
on January 31st, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Most of the comments seem to blame the Tea Party, how is that? How about we just focus on the sick individual that is involved. Regardless, who saw this coming? Any of the Democrats on here that have turned this into a political thing? Are any of them going to admit to pulling the trigger? I think not. So how will this end? Most likely the boy will be saved and with the liberal views now in the country, this bad guy will end up in a minimum security facility that will cater to his medical needs and pronounce him cured in ten years. Meanwhile the dead bus driver, will be just that, dead, the perp will get more coverage than the bus driver or his family ever will (thank you ACLU and the liberals.) This guy was seen sporting his shotgun and digging at all hours of the night, didn’t that spark some concern around there? Want to blame someone, blame them. We have a neighborhood watch in our area, we in constant watch and monitor what’s happening, every day. We have too, the police are stretched to the limit, 40,000 criminals (yes 40,000) were released because of overcrowding and now crime is on the rise. So some of the clowns on here commenting need to look in their own back yard, before criticizing. Somebody on here was quoting Einstein, I’ll add one more because it seems appropriate. “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.” So preaching the same rederick is not helping anyone.
on January 31st, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Is there actual proof that Mr. Dykes is a veteran? None of the quick response databases have any records on him. There’s a good chance that this is another Gary Raub.
on January 31st, 2013 at 10:18 pm
You’ve ceased to be an objective, informative and useful organization SPLC. You now label conservatism as hate. What happened to being an impartial guide to ALL of the hate groups out there?
Unreal. You are whores for the libs, and that’s sad.
on January 31st, 2013 at 10:54 pm
This guy seems to be a full tilt mental case. Sadly, the help available to all vets is limited at best. Many people are anti government who do nothing violent, but simply have a hard time dealing with this compassionless hyper controlled reality that shifts all advantages regularly to those who are much better off than most americans. I truly am sorry that such hatred exists all around. Guns are too easily available and too many people are suffering with no relief. This is a sick state of affairs. If his neighbors had a clue, he might have been able to get the help he really needed. Sickening how this country promotes violence and the leaves nowhere for such damaged vets to turn.
on January 31st, 2013 at 11:02 pm
Chad – congrats on creating several straw men and in flat out falsehoods. The Tea Party was funded by DIck Armey’s group. It was not a grassroots movement soooooo concerned about an intrusive government. If you were so concerned about that, why did it only rise up as soon as Black Jesus became President? Why were you not concerned about the fraud in government when we were bombing Iraqis? Why are you not anti-abortion? If you’re so concerned about an intrusive government, keeping them out of a woman’s vagina would be a good place to start.
on February 1st, 2013 at 5:26 am
You don’t have to be in the military to experience something very like PTSD. It’s not simply about stress–but more like an identity problem, according to something I read recently. Which seemed to corroborate my personal feelings for many years now about my experiences with racism, especially but not limited to hostile students and teachers in high school. My parents had hade little experience with US education, and only insisted I get good grades–that was their mantra, that and “ignore” bigotry.. The general picture I had by age sixteen/seventeen was of a dismal future or “no future” at all. Since I knew better than to make jokes about anothers race or culture it was very unpleasant when even “friends” spoke to me in that way. Being gay in a Latin culture, which is not good now, and was bad then, did not help. So by my early twenties I had serious psychic/emotional problems from these varied assaults on my very identity–I repeat: something like PTSD. Being very go-along-to-get-along (and repressed) I did not act out much, but came near to getting into serious trouble a few times. I served in the continental US during my Viet Nam era military days, and saw no conflict–except the day a US Spec5 southerner I did not even know came up to me with accusations about “Mexican pachucos having instigated the zoot-suit riots” in Los Angeles. That, I knew about and bellowed right in his face “BULLSHIT!”, and he left me alone. The US. south is a violent place alright, and I knew to keep my mouth shut and my ears open when I attended military aircraft maintenence school there in Alabama in the early sixties. God knows what Jimmy Lee Dykes has experienced in his 65 years.
on February 1st, 2013 at 8:57 am
This incident should come as no surprise when this contumacious mentality and intentional ignorance is so prevalent in our society nowadays. Right here in rural central Florida, this guy would be one of the majority; lots of time and lots of guns and proud to be contrary and obstreperous as a way of life. We really can’t expect a lot from folks like this and we need to stop all the pc-ness and speak to this bizarre antisocial ideology sweeping the nation.
on February 1st, 2013 at 12:33 pm
After reading the blogs, I can say that “JAY” and a few others are as crazy as this RIGHT-WING nut holding that poor little kid down in that bunker. Vietnam vet? ANY Vietnam vet who supports this guy should be ASHAMED.
on February 1st, 2013 at 12:56 pm
I live around 15 minutes away from where this tragic hostage drama is unfolding and I can tell you we are all praying for the 6 year old child in this incident. I hope that this issue resolves itself soon and the child is released unharmed.
For the record, the southeast of Alabama where I live is not a particularly violent place and the people here are very friendly and law abiding.
But I do agree with the comments by Dick above. The US government has trained a whole generation of psychopaths to carry out carnage and violence on a massive scale against civilians in Vietnam and Iraq and the spectacle of many of the former soldiers used and abused by the US military industrial complex, tragic as it is, is not surprising.
I do not agree with the “anti American” label however. There are a lot of people disgusted by US foreign policy, including the illegal wars started by the US, but that does not make them “anti American”.
on February 1st, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Buddylove, you accuse us of using hate language, and then you call us all whores! I am both charmed and persuaded!
Antonio, I know where you’re coming from. My co-author, who is Puerto Rican, is not gay, but did get wounded in combat, and has faced considerable anti-Hispanic bigotry besides. He anyway had a VA therapist (back in the Clinton era), a wife with the paience of Job, and then a co-author (me) with a background in clinical psychology, plus a deal of determination to get through it, so he’s simmered down, but yeah, it’s serious. Also, as a former police officer who has a license to carry, he is very much aware of what the improvident availability and use of military firearms can do. He’d be the first person to tell you that the last thing any police officer wants to do is respond to a domestic and find that the perp has shot his wife and family and is bunkered in with those things while his wounded family members die without help and the dead ones rot- something that happened hereabouts a couple of years back and repeats itself too often.
on February 1st, 2013 at 5:44 pm
You people are all backwards. You’ll all be crawling and begging the “right-wingers” for protection and food when this all comes crashing down.
on February 1st, 2013 at 9:44 pm
A photo has been published of Mr. Dykes. It’s really winging it to make a diagnosis from a photo, but something in his expression suggests both Ted Kaczynski, and my ex when he was storing huge cans of black gunpowder in the house and talking about suicide by cop (and taking me with him). The latter got psychiatric treatment from the V.A., and we get along fine from a distance of two thousand miles or so. What happened to the former speaks for itself. I would suggest this man is also quite seriously disturbed.
on February 1st, 2013 at 9:48 pm
Though not confirmed officially, the boy’s name is Ethan, and his sixth birthday is this week. The townspeople ask that all those inclined to pray, pray for Ethan.
on February 1st, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Message for the hostage negotiators in an effort to help resolve the situation in Midland, Alabama:
As someone who has experienced post-traumatic stress syndrome, been through the healing process, and survived it, I would like to share my thoughts concerning the hostage negotiations and a manner hostage negotiators may choose to speak in addressing Mr. Dykes in order for there to be a safe return of the boy:
I would remind Mr. Dykes that the boy is there and can help. The boy is there to help Mr. Dykes and to help him remember what it was like to be a five year-old boy. Mr. Dykes has an opportunity in the presence of the boy to think about his own childhood a childhood that was hopefully happy for Mr. Dykes. Mr. Dykes was five years of age at one time too.
I would let Mr. Dykes know that the boy needs to learn to survive and to survive just as Mr. Dykes did survive the Vietnam War. Mr. Dykes would remember how scared he was during war in Vietnam, and war is scary especially for the young men sent to Vietnam. I would let Mr. Dykes know that the boy is scared now too. The little boy is scared too. The boy is scared. Mr. Dykes has an opportunity to help the boy be unafraid and be a survivor as Mr. Dykes did grow-up and survive to be sixty-five years of age. Mr. Dykes had to have been scared in Vietnam because war is scary. The boy is at war now too in a way, and just as Mr. Dykes survived Vietnam, escaped capture, and survived Mr. Dykes can help the little boy survive too.
Mr. Dykes can help the little boy be unafraid, help him learn to be courageous, and help him be a “survivor”. The boy can help Mr. Dykes not be afraid too. Mr. Dykes can help himself not be afraid. They are both in this together so to speak, and the boy and Mr. Dykes can help each other during this scary situation. The boy can help Mr. Dykes reconnect with his own childhood and help give Mr. Dykes the courage to face this situation. Mr. Dykes has an opportunity to heal his wounds from Vietman and help the boy learn that war is scary and to always be safe. It would help other Veterans of war be able to heal for the boy to survive and for Mr. Dykes to be kind to himself and to start to heal any wounds he may have suffered during his experience in Vietnam.
Mr. Dykes has an opportunity to help his country once again as he did help protect our country while serving in Vietnam. We need to remember that Mr. Dykes did help in Vietnam, and we need to help him be courageous and help him heal his wounds from war and to save the little boy. Mr. Dykes survived Vietnam, and Mr. Dykes can help the boy and himself survive this. Mr. Dykes needs to let the boy remind him what courage is all about. Courage is being an American soldier and helping your country. Courage is helping yourself survive and helping others do the same. The boy is being courageous, and it takes courage to survive. They both can survive this. Mr. Dykes and the boy.
Hostage negotiators may benefit from asking Mr. Dykes if someone can take a look at what he’s built in the bunker and express the sentiment positively and with a sense of being impressed by the bunker Mr. Dykes built. Again, Mr. Dykes did survive Vietnam and has lived to be sixty-five years of age despite having served in Vietnam. Mr. Dykes can help the boy do the same and survive.
I would also consider playing music softly in the background while hostage negotiators are speaking to Mr. Dykes. Music may be helpful and may help the boy and Mr. Dykes remain calm, sleep, and help them feel strong. Music that Mr. Dykes listened to as a child and a teenager that he enjoyed may help bring about a positive feeling in Mr. Dykes and help him. Music may be helpful is Mr. Dykes would like to listen to music or asks the boy if the boy would like to listen to music.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hatewatch” blog. I hope for a safe return of the boy to his family.
Sincerely,
Gene
on February 2nd, 2013 at 1:34 am
To the man that said we don’t get tornados here or in a rural area for them you are mistaking. We do have them here, so him building a bunker would not raise any concern.
on February 2nd, 2013 at 9:07 am
There is as much information that Jimmy Lee Dykes is a member of the anti-government Occupy Wall Street movement as their is anything else. I’ll bet he is a big fan of Weather Underground and Bill Ayres.
on February 2nd, 2013 at 11:35 am
Will you please stop identifying Jimmy Lee Dykes as a Vietnam Veteran. He is not. Thank you.
on February 2nd, 2013 at 1:42 pm
To the various posters who have been attacking the straw men of liberals, the ACLU, and so on, accusing the SPLC of being “anti-Conservative:”
When “conservative” groups openly call for trampling on others’ rights, rebellion against the government, secession, sexism, and racism, you bet the SPLC will have something to say about it.
SPLC opposes the lunacy of Glenn Beck, not the reasoned arguments of George Will.
on February 2nd, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Thanks for the valuable statistics, Don. As bad as this case is, there does not seem to be a hate group involved. Just a nut. This guy should never have been able to pass a Background Check for a firearm, obviously, and might be a real good place for Legislators to start looking at that system. But the SPLC is wasting the resources I donate to it digging up obscure, isolated cases like this just to push an agenda that reminds me of “The Music Man”: We got trouble, right here in River City…..
on February 3rd, 2013 at 11:30 am
In fact, Dykes is a veteran, a paranoid, a survivalist, an addict of right-wing talk radio, and an evident lone wolf:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/.....245157.php
on February 4th, 2013 at 8:58 am
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Lulves: please follow the link I furnished.
on February 4th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
In fact, the boy has been rescued, but Dykes is dead. The manner of his death is not known; only that the boy had to be taken from him by force and appears unharmed.
http://touch.latimes.com/#sect.....-74290380/
on February 4th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
@Reynardine: you said, ” Reynardine said,
on February 1st, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Buddylove, you accuse us of using hate language, and then you call us all whores! I am both charmed and persuaded!
Well said Reynardine, and @buddylove exercising 1st. Amendment rights is much nicer when done with tact.
on February 4th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
The word survivalists is being thrown around rather loosely, just because someone digs a big hole in the ground does not make them a survivalist.
sur·viv·al·ist \-v?-list\ n (1970) : a person who advocates or practices survivalism ; esp: one who has prepared to survive in the anarchy of an anticipated breakdown of society
As far as I can tell by reading this article the only anarchy was caused by the alleged “survivalist” himself”.
on February 5th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Concernedcitizen, he evidently considered himself to be one. Other than that, there is no parameter for a “survivalist”, as they have no overreaching organization, charter, or party.
Incidentally, don’t fall for these overpriced “survivalist seeds”. They are basically open-pollinated varieties, collections of which you can get from various seedhouses, as “heirloom gardens”, from Burpee, Pinetree Seeds, etc. And seeds rarely remain viable for more than two years; plant the damned things, and save the best of *their* seeds.
on February 5th, 2013 at 6:04 pm
What really happened to that man to take such action?…
I know that south poverty law center is a biased yellow press against the white people…
This grupusculo of hate is always trying to spoil the truth of what really are behind all political and social happenings
on February 5th, 2013 at 7:39 pm
Dykes did consider himself a survivalist. He was inspired by the Newtown massacre to take children as hostages so he could leverage TV time. His bunker was booby-trapped with explosives, and he was shot before he could trip one.
http://m.cbsnews.com/storysyno.....plitPage=5
on February 6th, 2013 at 9:32 am
Which, I suppose, Barbarotico, makes it fine with you if a white man grabs a little kid (in this case, also white), shoots the bus driver, and threatens to kill the kid if the murderer doesn’t get on TV. Maybe one day we’ll read about you.
on February 6th, 2013 at 11:45 am
barbarotico said,
on February 5th, 2013 at 6:04 pm
“I know that south poverty law center is a biased yellow press against the white people…”
Would this be the same Barbarotico who once praised Hitler (in comments on a pro-Nazi YouTube page) as the greatest speaker who ever lived? Who advocated in comments on Steelmark that the U.S. Army be ordered to “exterminate” all “degenerated criminals”? Who has been banned or blocked from commenting on numerous websites over the years because of his vehement anti-Semitism and advocacy of violence as a solution to the world’s ills?
on February 6th, 2013 at 12:13 pm
CM, I haven’t given awards in recent weeks because of tenacious flu, but you get a Cheshire Cat to keep your Sleuth Hound company (and its big grin conveys, “See! I told you so!)
on February 6th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
CM,
Judging by the writing style, this is indeed the exact same Barbarotico.
on February 6th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
to cm:
What a naive you are!…
There are a lot of barbaroticos on the internet…
Do you thing that you will intimidate me with that?
Another thing: For your information, in this country exist the freedom of speech. something that south poverty law center want to ban….
People, not send nor a $0.01 to this hate group!!!…
This hate group is part of the iluminati, and in following an agenda to destroy this country.
on February 6th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
barbartico kind of sounds like a random word generator :P
on February 6th, 2013 at 1:11 pm
I wandered onto the site looking for information on Jimmy Lee Dykes. Mostly what I have found is a lot of wild speculation and extremely biased and snide political views. Sigh!
on February 6th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Well, Erika, to me, he sounds like the kind who grabs little boys.
on February 6th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
Is truth what barbarotico say.
This “organization” “south poverty law center”
Is a hate group customed of civil right group.
It behave exactly as a group dedicate to persecute people that not fall into their ideals.
on February 6th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Look up Barbarotico on YouTube. It is the exact same character. They both use the same broken English. They both complain about the Jews and the Illuminati.
And they are both horribly, horribly confused.
on February 6th, 2013 at 2:06 pm
To reinaldine:
Which, I suppose, Barbarotico, makes it fine with you if a WHITE MAN grabs a little kid (in this case, also white), shoots the bus driver, and threatens to kill the kid if the murderer doesn’t get on TV. Maybe one day we’ll read about you.
In this comment I see the biases toward the white man!!!…
The black man do that too, they kidnap children too..and to a major scale…
You speak as if only the white men do that…
Everyone in this forum is biased…
on February 6th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Gee, Machoviejo and Caveman,
Maybe one day yu kin lurn to reed an spel gud. Yu kin spel al kineds ov wurdz then, lyk F-U-K an S-H-Y-T-E.
on February 6th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
reinaldine:
You will have to exterminate 3/4 part of the humanity to erradicate all the people that ate against your retrograd ideals.
You create your enemies with your actions and behavior.
So you will never fix your problem because your problem is only your.
You are condemned to continually persecute the free men and women of this world, a monumental task that you will not achieve because the great majority of this world are against your plot.
on February 6th, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Ladies and gentlemen, I think I’ve found the newest incarnation of the Jason Smith cabal!
on February 6th, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Mandatory,
I hate to think of anyone who ate against the ideals of Retrograd. Although I am familiar with neither the city of Retrograd nor its ideals, I am sure that was a battle and a siege of epic proportions, and surely its defenders often ate things that were against their ideals, but I trust they are eating more in accord with them now. We sometimes have a gentleman here who could surely enlighten you on the Battle of Retrograd in no uncertain terms; regrettably, he is not present just now.
on February 6th, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Rey, be sure to ask them about the threat posed by the “New Black Panters” :)
on February 6th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
To Reinaldine:
No. you (haters) are alone in this…
This problem of racism is only yours…
You the haters of whites are who can’t live in peace…
The very existance of the white man upset you, haaaaaaaahahahaha…
That is amusing to see how the existance of the white man upset you…
By all the things that you (the no racists) you show to the world that you are the true racists and the true haters…
I enjoy your hydrophobia….ñaaaahahahahaha…
on February 6th, 2013 at 4:35 pm
Rey has hydrophobia? Christ, she’s rabid. Guess we’ll have to put her down.
It was fun knowing you Rey, but if you would please follow me behind the shed…?
on February 6th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
Actually, Erika, my Aunt Liz was a Black Panter. They were made out of lace. I got into fights with a bunch of kids when I was fourteen, because they said she didn’t wear any at all. I saw them myself, though. She used to hike them up over her breasts and run around her house in them when it was hot or the furnace was overheating. They didn’t always stay up. You just can’t trust them Black Panties (whoops) Panters to stay in their place.
Meanwhile, we have this person of a thousand names and the same idiosyncratic spelling trying to refight the Battle of Retrograd while eating against his ideals. Just when you think you’ve seen it all…
on February 6th, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Wow, go away for a couple of days and the crazies come out. By crazies, I mean one commentor and his/her sock puppets. And yes, I am talking about you Barbaratico.
on February 6th, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Is truth we got real winners some here now.
on February 6th, 2013 at 10:19 pm
Yes mandatory you have razzled and dazzled us with your eloquent use of the English language…
In case you weren’t aware people who support SPLC come from many ethnic backgrounds including white.
on February 7th, 2013 at 8:39 am
Actually, Aron, I am drinking water and taking showers just fine, and I haven’t bitten any of my animals, not even the rooster. All the chickens I have bitten were cooked. You can put away that Winchester now…
on February 7th, 2013 at 9:08 am
The only “whites” that support the hate group SPLC are the jews…
Because part of their agenda is the destruction of the gentile nations through these type of hate groups, wars, financial crisis and so on.
None white support the splc…
I’m inmigrant and I preffer to burn my money to support a RACIST hate group as SPLC.
on February 7th, 2013 at 9:24 am
Mandatory:
Guess!!!…
The resident of South Poverty Law Center is “Richard” COHEN!…
Cohen is a jewish last name from the jewish elite.
I bet that this Cohen is from the sacerdotal class, from the super rich and super capitalist iluminati!…
on February 7th, 2013 at 9:50 am
Reynardine, thanks for the nod despite your flu. There are some unusually nasty bugs going around this year.
As for Barbarotico, Caveman, Machoviejo, Ben, Borracho, Barbacoa or whatever your real name may be, do you really think we aren’t already familiar with your Elders-of-Zion-based conspiracy fantasies? Do yourself a favor: read Umberto Eco’s “Foucault’s Pendulum” and “The Prague Cemetery.” It might help relieve you of some of your profound ignorance.
on February 7th, 2013 at 9:53 am
I suspect Ben is the same guy.
Well, Ben/Mandatory/Machoviejo/Caveman, while semiliteracy is by no means probative of foreign birth these days, yours is idiosyncratic. Yet note that our Hays Office lets you publish your drivel. That is not a characteristic of any hate group I have heard of.
You might be happier back in Retrograd, where, I am told, conditions have improved so much you will not be eating against your ideals, and I suspect will never be approached by any Black Panties, either.
P. S. They printed your picture at PoliticusUSA yesterday. See if you can spot it.
on February 7th, 2013 at 9:58 am
Tail of Hofman, didn’t we just kick you out of PoliticusUSA?
Yeah, CM, and this bug is as tenacious as… Anyhow, enjoy your Cheshire Cat. He has a great purr, especially when he’s brought down a right-wing rodent.
on February 7th, 2013 at 10:00 am
First Aron wants to leave me on an island filled filled with dangerous Erika killing bees and now he wants to shoot Reynardine? What is going on here? :P
and Rey, i am so very much glad that underwear technology (not to mention societal attitude) has improved since then but i was wondering if the “New Black Panters” weren’t a group of black labs. Because that does sound very scary indeed since i’m pretty sure that for big dogs their primarily goal in life is to eat an Erika for breakfast :)
on February 7th, 2013 at 10:06 am
Maybe Coral Sea and aadila can explain the meaning of this Caveman to me :)
just kidding, i’ll be good, i promise ;)
please don’t toss me to the bees and dogs! :)
on February 7th, 2013 at 11:23 am
@ Ben and others — I’m very clearly White, my family has been here since the War with the Dutch was won by the English. We give money to SPLC. Trust me, I am not, nor is Jonathan, Jewish. We are neo-Pagan actually, and prior to being neo-Pagan I spent many years as a Christian, he as an atheist. I don’t always agree with SPLC (i’m a tad bit too free-speech for them sometimes) BUT – I do support them, we do donate periodically – and I don’t understand your problem.
Reyn
on February 7th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
TC
When we were at war with Iraq I was 13 years old. I am not involved in the TEA Party, I am a liberitarian though once again not affiliated with the party. I am going off of the people I saw who were involved in the TEA Party, who were in fact small town people sick of the government trying to get in their business ie Patriot Act yes from Bush. I have no qualms whatsoever about a black president, I have every qualm in the world with any politician that tells me how to live my life or snoops around my business when I do not harm anyone else and I pay my bills. I am anti-abortion, I believe that people should be accountable for their decisions and also I believe that abortion is murder. I believe that liberty is one of the most important things on earth. But if you demonstrate you are not responsible enough with that, there should be real consequences. I can not find a single flaw in responsible people being free to make their own decisions as long as those decisions are obviously resonsible. There need to be laws, but just because something isnt necessary and dangerous doesnt mean it should be illegal. Fast cars are unnecessary and dangerous yet they are not and should not be illegal. It is not the car that commits vehicular homicide/manslaughter it is the irresponsible driver and so is the case on guns.
on February 7th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
In short, Chad, you believe in absolute liberty for everyone except women and people who don’t agree with you. Oh, well, this is for you:
Rockabye, fetus, with helmet on top
Armed with a machine gun for doctors and cops.
When you shoot some doctors, we’ll stand up and cheer,
But, once you’re a baby- you’re on your own, dear!
on February 7th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Erika, you adorable and silly girl, giant dogs do not want to eat you for breakfast! They only want to give you millions of kisses; just like my puppy* is doing right now!
*Bones is actually an 11.5 year old beagle/border collie. But he is most definitely still a ‘puppy.’
PS It is a bad idea to tell someone try shouldn’t be interested in you in such a way as to be EVEN MORE adorable! And as for Rey, I was merely trying to do the merciful thing, being that vaccines are evil and all ;P
on February 7th, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Chad, while all of you Tea Party types keep trying to claim that you on the right were opposing the Patriot Act (fact: the only initial opposition to the Patriot Act came from the left) and the expansion of the government under Dubya, nary a peep was heard from your side regarding abuse of power and the Patriot Act until after President Obama took office.
Then suddenly it was a scandal that the government was taking people’s tweezers at an airport. Suddenly the massive budget deficit which did not matter between 1981 and 1993 or between 2001 and 2009 was so important.
Rey beat me to pointing out how you want the government out of your busines – unless of course you happen to possess a vagina and then your purpose is apparently to produce lots of Christian babies. But it won’t stop me from making fun of your obvious hypocracy (real libertarians are pro-choice. Phony Koch Brothers/Fox News Tea Party libertarians are anti-choice because what they really oppose is Democrats). Real libertarians also do not expect governemnt to be a theocracy and operate according to certain religious beliefs either. Phony Koch Brothers/Fox News Tea Party libertarians on teh other hand.
You right wingers are so adorable – its as if you expect as to really be as stupid as people educated in schools run according to modern right wing thought should be.
So what is it – will your ideal publicly funded for profit “religious” schools teach that dinosaurs not fit in Noah’s Ark or did they die out due to lack of oxygen after the flood? :)
on February 9th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
So, Chad, you don’t want the government snooping through your private life as long as you pay the bills…but you DO want the government to dictate to women what they can do with their bodies and make personal reproductive choices.
Okay, just to be sure.
So you’re not a libertarian, you’re a misogynist and a hypocrite. And you’re in your early 20s, which means you still know everything. I recommend you move out of your parents’ basement and live on your own while you still enjoy that condition.
As for “Barbarotico” and his various sock puppets: try learning and using the English language properly before you make your arguments, and cut down on the jargon and buzzwords.
The SPLC is responsible for the French Revolution? You’re giving it a little bit too much credit.
The Illuminati control everything? We’ve heard that tired tale before. Come up with something new for conspiracy theories. This is the 21st century, you know.
on February 16th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
To kiwiwriter:
The SPLC where not behind the french revolution because obviously this hate group not existed on that time.
The iluminati group that is behing this hate organization are the part of those that plotted the french revolution, the ww1 the ww2 and todays wars in the middle east. All are from the same small group that create wars and social unrest on gentile nations.
The president of this hate group is a jewish, cohen is a jewish lastname that belong to the jewish high class. the owners of financial institutions and so on…
If you are not jewish and you have some brain you would feel manipulated by these swindlers…
on February 17th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
To erika.
The Democratic party represent the interests of the american jewish.
The republican party represent the interests of the jewish that live in Isra-hell.
No party represent the majority, the working class…
The working class is just cattle for the system.
Hate organizations like this one represent the interests of the american jewish because this organization is created by american jewish.
The function of this organization is the creation of hate and racial tentions in the american society.
The same super-whealty zionist iluminati elite that steal almost all the money from gentile nations create this type of organizations of hate to maintain unrest in the society and to maintain divided the nation.
These ZIONIST iluminati, are so amoral that they grab all the money of the gentile nations and then create this type of organization raising the flag of poverty and racism when they are the creators of poverty and racial tensions in american society.
The president of this hate organization have a jewish last name cohen….I bet that this man is super-whealty and done all his money with this organization from the federal check that the government pay him with the money of taxpayer
on February 21st, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Since I think abortion is wrong I am not a Liberitarian. This is stupid, I believe actions demand consequences, FOR ANYTHING. If it was a rape, you can have an abortion no problem. But if you had consentual sex with a man that has a risk associated with that and youve got to live with the consequence. How does this become an abortion issue? I believe murder is wrong; therefore I believe abortion is wrong because I think that abortion is murder. Not because of some blind religious affiliation or I dont like progressives. And because of my belief I am a hypocrit, that is rediculous. I stand up for what I believe in. And I dont care who came out against the Patriot Act first, I am against it no matter who talks bad about it.
The fact that I am accused of hypocrisy simply because I do not think abortion is right is so stupid. Its because you all dont have anything else to argue with me about.
kiwi: I am 20 years old, which would imply that I am in college. The fact that you assume anything about where I live because of information from this conversation points to a flaw in your judgement skills.
on February 27th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
@Reynardine: you stated: Quite a few of us did, and do, know how veterans are being treated. Dammit, we try. Notwithstanding that the caseloads of every legislator are stuffed with veterans who have been screwed out of their benefits, nothing budges, because the VA has become overloaded with types who think that, once a service person is past use, they have become a *bad investment*. You can thank Friedman economics for that.
I have also found that because service men and women are trained to take orders that they are largely taken advantage of when they go to get their benefits. When the VA plays hide and seek with educational funds or medical entitlements they have people trained to discourage and disrupt the veterans pursuit.
Even in the case of trying to address matters legally they have ways of putting up a wall for that as well. However, one should not give up the fight. That is exactly what they are counting on.
on April 4th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
My fellow Latins can be as backward and bigoted as other cultures, and I have been unpleasantly surprised at the blithe manner and seeming assuredness with which I have heard some of them allude to Jews or a conspiracy of Jews as a “major social/cultural/political problem” in their respective nations or communities. But I believe that “Barbarotico/Machoviejo” is deliberately devising a Latin style “mispronunciation” as a form of written “accent”, along with a collection of soubriquets of subterfuge, yes, his “sock-puppets” with Latin sounding names. So that to add Barbacoa and Borracho to the list is assuring him that his ploy is working. Neither SPLC readers nor posters are being respected, by way of these games-which in my view points to this poster’s own issues with self-respect, and certainly with his self-awareness. I feel that it’s safe to refer to “him” in this case, because correct me if I’m wrong, men tend to employ these gambits more than do women. As for Chad: you are not being called a hypocrite because you think abortion is wrong, you are being described that way to yourself because you have standards for others , among others of the issues that you present, standards that you cannot seem to apply to yourself. The accusation of your hypocrisy references, for the moment, not abortion, but how your thinking process functions–and how you are rather stuck on yourself, and demonstrate huge gaps in your self-awareness, and therefor in what you posit as arguments, which leaves you quite obtuse. You seriously lack empathy for others, in this case women, and their circumstance. Whether you are talking to friend, or to opposition, you need to factor in where people are coming from. I have a lot of years on you, but I see this discussion group as a wonderful gathering of what for the moment I will call the “forensics” required come to grips with ideas, philosophies; points of view. Look at what may be not the best example, but here goes: that ICS-type tv fare. You have people good at ballistics, at examining crime scenes, at discerning why and how how human relations lead to, or can lead to violence, at why, and how humans try to hide and escape from the repercussions of their acts, good or bad, etc. I see something like that in this team of “regulars”–how utterly great! But if we only spend time with people who agree with us–that can be an intellectual and even spiritual death–which is bad enough for us as individulas–but worse, is a transmittable condition. Be careful about that. Don’t be too partisan. Stick around and share ideas so we can all of us suss them out, and all benefit from it.