B.J. Pak

States Get Serious In Confronting Sovereign Citizen Movement

Jillian Rayfield | February 28, 2012, 6:40AM

$4 billion liens against police officers. Bankruptcy proceedings against the United States government. Claims of grammar-based conspiracies or "backwards-correct-syntaxing-modification fraud."

Sovereign citizens have found bizarre and creative ways to use court filings and liens to harass public officials throughout the country -- and legislators in Georgia have had enough.

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Militia movement

Meet The Accused Child Rapist Who Worked With The Feds Against The Senior Citizen Militia Members

Ryan J. Reilly | January 20, 2012, 5:31AM

Mugshots of Ray H. Adams, Samuel J. Crump, Emory Dan Roberts, and Frederick Thomas

We've told you all about the four senior citizen militia members from Georgia who allegedly plotted an attack against federal employees.

The members of the "covert group," -- who range from 65 to 73 -- were allegedly at least partially inspired by a book by a right-wing blogger and plotted to attack government employees with a deadly toxin ricin. But their age, various health problems and their apparent lack of ability to actually pull off the plot has raised questions about how big of a threat they really presented. Lawyers for some of the defendants have raised their age as a barrier to them being able to pull off the crimes they have been accused of, and all four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Now, thanks to an extensive piece in Esquire by Georgia-based journalist Tom Junod, we know a lot more about the guy who worked as a confidential informant for the feds in the case. It turns out he might not be a model citizen.

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Frederick Thomas

Feds: Senior Citizen Militia Members Targeted Holder, McKinney

Ryan J. Reilly | November 10, 2011, 6:03AM

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that four elderly militia members charged in a plot against citizens and federal employees were targeting Attorney General Eric Holder and former Rep. Cynthia McKinney as potential assassination targets.

Holder and McKinney's names were included on a hit list compiled by 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, federal prosecutors said at a bond hearing. Authorities also said Thomas had stockpiled 52 guns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition in his Georgia home. All four suspects pleaded not guilty.

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Militia movement

Fringe Militia Member Accused In Ricin Plot Called Right-Wing Blogger's Novel 'Far From Fantasy'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 6:00AM

One of the elderly 'fringe militia' members arrested on Tuesday for allegedly plotting a ricin attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees was a frequent commenter on a right-wing blog and thought a novel written by the blogger that allegedly inspired his plot was likely to come true.

Former Alabama militia member turned "Sipsey Street Irregulars" blogger Mike Vanderboegh said in a post that he never corresponded with 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, the man the feds considered the ringleader of the group. But he did say he believed "Ahab" was Thomas' screen name that he used to leave comments on the website.

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Georgia

Feds: Four Members Of Georgia 'Fringe Militia Group' Plotted Biological Attack On Citizens, Government Officials

Ryan J. Reilly | November 2, 2011, 6:30AM

Four Georgia men who belonged to a "fringe militia group" were arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday and charged with plotting an attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees using the biological toxin ricin.

Authorities say 73-year-old Frederick Thomas of Cleveland; 67-year-old Dan Roberts; 65-year-old Ray H. Adams; and 68-year-old Samuel J. Crump, all of Toccoa, Ga. began meeting in March 2011 as part of a covert group that called itself, well, the "covert group."

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Shorter University

University To Staff: Swear You're Not Gay Or You're Fired

David Taintor | November 1, 2011, 3:50PM

A Christian college in Georgia is asking all employees to sign a "personal lifestyle statement" declaring their heterosexuality.

Shorter University instituted the pledge in late October, the GA Voice reports, and it reads, in part, "I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality."

According to university president Don Dowless, the pledge doesn't intend to offend. "Our goal is to declare who we are" he told WSB-TV. But if you don't sign it, your job may be at risk.

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Birthers

Birther Oathkeeper Convicted In Attempted Courthouse Takeover

Jillian Rayfield | October 25, 2011, 3:08PM

Georgia birther and Oathkeeper Darren Huff was convicted Tuesday of attempting to take over a Tennessee courthouse and conduct citizen's arrests on officials.

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Darren Huff

'I Refuse To Be Intimidated': Birther OathKeeper's Trial Heads To Jury

Jillian Rayfield | October 25, 2011, 5:05AM

After a week-long trial, a federal jury in Georgia is deliberating the strange case of birther OathKeeper Darren Huff, who allegedly attempted to take over a Tennessee courthouse and conduct citizens arrests on local judges and officers.

"My government has called me a potential domestic terrorist," Huff said on the stand on Friday as he fought back tears.

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Georgia

Publisher Receives 'Terroristic' Threats After Complaints That Textbook Promoted Islam

Jillian Rayfield | September 29, 2011, 10:38AM

Police are looking into a series of online threats made against a Georgia textbook publisher after a parent complained that one of the books promoted Islam and polygamy.

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Georgia

GA Judge Ousted For Smoking Pot, Pulling A Gun In The Courthouse

Jillian Rayfield | September 22, 2011, 11:57AM

Georgia Magistrate Judge Anthony Peters was thrown off the bench after a pattern of bizarre behavior that included pot-smoking, kicking in doors, and pulling a gun out in the courthouse and asking a fellow judge: "I am not scared. Are you all scared?"

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Georgia

Tough Immigration Regulations In Effect In Georgia And South Carolina

Jillian Rayfield | July 1, 2011, 6:00AM

Though a federal judge temporarily blocked parts of Georgia's strict new immigration law this week, the rest of the law will go into effect Friday, including one provision that would penalize people who use a fake ID to get a job with up to 15 years in jail and up to $250,000 in fines.

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Georgia

Judge Hears Arguments Over Georgia's Immigration Crackdown

Jillian Rayfield | June 21, 2011, 5:45AM

A federal judge heard arguments Monday from civil rights and immigrant rights groups over an immigration law in Georgia, which they argue is unconstitutional and encroaches on federal authority.

The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center filed a lawsuit to block the law, and asked U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash to issue an injunction until the case is decided. Supporters of the law argue that the law was necessary because the federal government has failed to secure the borders.

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Georgia

Georgia Legislature Passes Arizona-Style Immigration Bill

Melissa Jeltsen | April 15, 2011, 10:27AM

Georgia's tough anti-illegal immigration legislation -- based on the controversial bill passed in Arizona past last year, currently tangled up in federal court -- now needs only a signature from Republican Gov. Nathan Deal to become law.

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Arizona

Georgia Latest State To Advance Arizona-Style Immigration Bill

Jillian Rayfield | April 12, 2011, 1:10PM

Evidently unfazed by the legal problems facing Arizona over its controversial immigration law, the Georgia state Senate has approved similar legislation that would tighten restrictions on people who are in the state illegally.

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South Carolina

Alabama House Passes Arizona-Style Immigration Bill

Jillian Rayfield | April 6, 2011, 11:17AM

Alabama State House and State Rep. Micky Hammon (R)

The Alabama House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass an immigration bill modeled after Arizona's, that would give law enforcement officials the authority to demand papers from people in cases "where reasonable suspicion exists that a person is an unauthorized alien," and jail those suspected of being in the country illegally until their immigration status can be confirmed.

The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 73-28, makes it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in the state of Alabama, and could lead to trespassing charges for those found to be in the state unlawfully. In Alabama, trespassing carries a sentence of up to a year.

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Capital Punishment

DEA Seizes Georgia's Supply Of Lethal Injection Drug

Eric Lach | March 16, 2011, 6:00PM

The execution chamber at Utah State Prison

Georgia's supply of a drug used for lethal injections was seized Wednesday by the Drug Enforcement Administration, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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Shirley Sherrod

Sherrod Statement On Breitbart Suit: He Never Apologized

Eric Lach | February 15, 2011, 11:30AM

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod has issued a statement addressing the defamation suit she filed against Andrew Breitbart in D.C. Superior Court last week. Sherrod was forced to resign from her USDA job last year, after Breitbart posted an edited video of a speech she gave to a Georgia NAACP chapter.

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Andrew Breitbart

Shirley Sherrod Sues Andrew Breitbart Over Video

Eric Lach | February 14, 2011, 10:36AM

Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart

Shirley Sherrod, who was fired from her USDA job last year after Andrew Breitbart posted online an edited video of her, has filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against Breitbart in D.C. Superior Court. The suit was filed on Friday, and Breitbart was served with it this weekend, while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to The New York Times.

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Sharia

Anti-Sharia Bill Introduced In Georgia

Eric Lach | February 10, 2011, 11:50AM

Republican lawmakers in Georgia have Sharia on their minds.

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Bobby Franklin

Georgia Republican: Nobody Should Need A Driver's License

Ryan J. Reilly | February 2, 2011, 8:50AM

Bobby Franklin

Republican Georgia state legislator Bobby Franklin thinks that driver's licenses impose undue restrictions on the right of citizens to travel. So he's proposed legislation to stop the state from issuing them.

"Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose," Franklin's legislation states. "Licensing of drivers cannot be required of free people, because taking on the restrictions of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right."

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Saxby Chambliss

Sen. Chambliss' Office Says It Was Source Of 'Faggot' Comment

Eric Lach | September 22, 2010, 7:34PM

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

The office of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) has admitted that an anti-gay comment left on a gay rights blog this week came from the senator's office, though it has not determined who actually posted it, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

Sen. Chambliss Investigating Whether 'Faggot' Comment Came From Staffer

Rachel Slajda | September 22, 2010, 9:25AM

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

Sen. Saxby Chambliss' office is investigating whether one of the Georgia Republican's staffers left an anti-gay comment on a blog yesterday afternoon.

"We have seen the allegations and are moving quickly to understand the facts. This office has not and will not tolerate any activity of the sort alleged," a Chambliss spokeswoman said in a statement issued last night. "Once we have ascertained whether these claims are true, we will take the appropriate steps."

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Pyramid Scheme

Georgia Man Wants Tea Partiers To Join His 'Patriotic' Pyramid Scheme

Jillian Rayfield | September 7, 2010, 8:30AM

Is there anything more patriotic than a get-rich-quick scheme? The folks over at TeaPartyBizOpp, a pyramid scheme targeted at the tea party set, don't seem to think so.

Billed as the "first ever patriotic home based business opportunity" and the place "where you get paid to help defend our freedom and stop Liberal Tyranny!!", TeaPartyBizOpp offers like minded liberty-lovers the chance to "make up to $50,000 or more a year helping raise funds to defend our freedom."

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Shirley Sherrod

WATCH: Full Video Of Sherrod's Speech

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 7:40PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

The NAACP just posted the full video of Shirley Sherrod's speech in front of the Coffee County NAACP this past March.

The relevant part starts about 16 minutes in. Sherrod is talking about how her father was killed by a white man when she was 17; that night, she says, she made a commitment to stay in the South and work toward change.

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Shirley Sherrod

Sherrod Says Her Father Was Killed By A White Farmer

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 6:52PM

In one of her interviews with CNN today, Shirley Sherrod said that 45 years ago, her father was killed by a white farmer.

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Daniel Stout

After Rep. Resigns In Sex Scandal, Georgia County Elects GOPer Who Had Affair With Mother-In-Law

Justin Elliott | February 25, 2010, 6:15PM

Georgia Rep. Daniel Stout (R)

Last December, Paulding County lost its representative in the Georgia House when he resigned in a high profile sex and conflict-of-interest scandal.

Glenn Richardson, the family-values Republican who represented the county and was speaker of the house, stepped down after his ex-wife publicly accused him of having "a full-out affair" with a lobbyist while he was married.

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Nathan Deal

GOP Rep In Ethics Scrap Over Auto Salvage Business

Justin Elliott | December 18, 2009, 10:24AM

Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)

A GOP congressman's reported intervention with Georgia officials to preserve a sweetheart business setup for his auto salvage inspection company has drawn the attention of the House ethics committee, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week.

After the newspaper first revealed the actions of Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) in August, an investigator for the ethics panel said in an e-mail that the panel planned to issue a subpoena in the case, indicating the seriousness of the matter, according to documents the Journal-Constitution obtained through an open records request. The ethics panel declined to comment about any investigation.

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Amir Hossein Ardebili

U.S. Imprisoned Iranian Engineer Secretly For Two Years Before Sentencing

Justin Elliott | December 15, 2009, 12:14PM

Meeting with undercover American agents and Amir Hossein Ardebili

In a case drawing criticism from outside lawyers, an Iranian engineer sentenced to prison Monday for violating arms control laws was lured to the nation of Georgia by American authorities for a fake arms deal, arrested, extradited to the U.S., and held in prison for two years -- including months in solitary confinement before his guilty plea last year -- all totally in secret, according to the Justice Department and media reports.

Export control lawyers told Politico's Laura Rozen the politically-charged case of Amir Hossein Ardebili -- which was under seal until this month -- is troubling for two reasons: first, he was an Iranian who never left Iran, nonetheless lured out of the country and targeted by U.S. law enforcement; and, second, that he was sentenced after two years of secret imprisonment.

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