Dear Delana,
This story out of Atlanta should have been headline news for a week - but the media moved on so quickly that you might not have even heard about the riot involving a staff lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Last week, I summarized the violent March 5 attack by armed protestors on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, including how SPLC attorney Thomas Webb Jurgens was among the group charged with domestic terrorism. Following the attack, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) stated: "We will not rest until those who use violence and intimidation for an extremist end are brought to full justice."
On FRC's national TV & radio program, Washington Watch, my colleague U.S. Army Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin commented on the presence of SPLC's attorney at the attack. "I don't think he was giving legal advice as they tried to portray. He was out there as a rioter, in the midst of a riot."
However, anyone who tuned in to mainstream media would never hear such facts or analysis.
In their brief reports on the Atlanta riot, ABC, CBS, and NBC all failed to mention that an SPLC staff lawyer was among those arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. They did not even note that these agitators were clearly linked to leftist groups in their violent actions.
Several angles in the story have yet to be uncovered, which is why FRC's media outlet The Washington Stand will continue to report on these issues.
FRC is also exposing other aspects of the troubling influence of SPLC across our culture.
Together we must shine light and uncover the truth - especially in the face of the media's negligence. We have prepared a petition to ask the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate whether the SPLC should have any role in advising the Biden administration regarding law enforcement or the education system.
This ostensibly respected group, which was originally chartered as a civil rights organization, has been greatly responsible for the rising trend of divisive identity politics.
Through its Learning for Justice initiative, the SPLC has been welcomed into many schools across the U.S. to teach children what the group terms "social justice education." Concerningly, their objective is not teaching "liberty and justice for all" but using disputed ideologies such as Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory to indoctrinate students.
Due in part to the funding and efforts of the SPLC, these theories are increasingly being presented as fact in school curricula, professional development training for teachers, and even policies at the school board level.
Now is the time to finally expose SPLC as the dangerous, radical leftist group it is.
The SPLC is dead set on putting a pro-LGBT, anti-biblical curriculum in every single K-12 public school... and will attempt to malign and ostracize any parental organizations as "hate groups" if they dare object. Their resources have also been used to commit violence and harassment against Family Research Council and other pro-faith, pro-family organizations and leaders.
If these radicals succeed, the consequences will be devastating to your family, your children, your church, your school, your faith, and our country.
Amid this monumental battle for truth, I was encouraged when I spoke to Congressman Mike Johnson (R-La.) recently on Washington Watch.
"This is a good moment - because the truth is coming out," Congressman Johnson shared. "You and I have known for a long time that the SPLC was up to all sorts of nefarious activity. They are effectively an arm of the radical progressive Left in this country. But they're being exposed for who they are."
What's even more encouraging: Congressman Johnson is one of the members of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. When you click to sign the petition below and FRC delivers it, it will help him make the case that the SPLC - driven by radical leftist agendas - must be investigated by Congress.
Will you help FRC lead the charge against radical activists at the SPLC?
Our goal is to gather thousands of petitions over the next few weeks to deliver to the leadership of the Subcommittee. Thank you in advance for signing the petition and for standing with FRC in upholding faith, family, and freedom.
The Petition to Investigate the SPLC states:
To the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government: Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Ranking Member Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands)
Whereas: The Southern Poverty Law Center has unfairly targeted Family Research Council and many other organizations as "hate groups" for holding conservative, biblical worldviews.
Whereas: The Southern Poverty Law Center's actions have incited harassment and violence against Family Research Council and other organizations and leaders, including a domestic terrorism attack on Family Research Council by a gunman in August 2012.
Whereas: A staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center was recently arrested and charged with domestic terrorism along with 22 other assailants in the March 5, 2023, anti-law enforcement attack on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Whereas: The Southern Poverty Law Center is well known for threatening and bullying school systems, teachers, and parents with expensive legal actions and complaints filed with federal and state-level Civil Rights Offices for questioning their involvement in the public school curriculum.
Therefore, I urge this subcommittee to investigate the Biden administration's and federal agencies' continued reliance upon the Southern Poverty Law Center as a trusted resource for information and data. The bullying tactics of this anti-Christian organization have incited domestic terrorist activities, as well as lawsuits against parents who disagree with the SPLC's radical "Learning for Justice" curriculum in K-12 public schools.
An honest review of the Southern Poverty Law Center's activities and anti-conservative bias will show that federal agencies should cut all ties with this dangerous and disgraced organization.
The president had no public events Monday and has offered little reassurance or explanation of what to make of it all, following the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon crossing the country and the unprecedented peacetime shootdowns that have followed.
U.S. officials said they still know little about the three objects downed Friday off the coast of Alaska, Saturday over Canada and Sunday over Lake Huron. But those shootdowns have been part of a more assertive response to aerial phenomena following the balloon episode blamed on an ongoing Beijing espionage program.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did have at least one definitive statement to try to tamp down unrestrained theories: “I know there's been questions and concerns about this, but there is no — again, no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity.”
The U.S. government insists the three objects did not pose a threat to American security and that even the massive spy balloon provided “limited additive capabilities” to China's other surveillance programs. Still, they were shot out of the sky “out of an abundance of caution,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Biden’s unparalleled decision to shoot down four objects over North America in eight days — when combined with U.S. officials’ efforts to publicly downplay the foreign threat — has furthered the dissonant messages being sent about sensitive efforts to protect the homeland.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, acknowledge the confusion, saying the administration wants to keep the American public from becoming unnecessarily worried while also trying to maintain a tough posture toward China.
Kirby said that while the U.S. has no specific reasons to suspect the aerial objects were spying, "we couldn’t rule that out.” He added that the most recent objects, flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet, could have posed a remote risk to civilian planes.
That legal justification for the downings — that the objects might imperil civilian flight — is viewed by some officials as such a remote possibility that it raises questions about whether it was a mere pretext for acting tough.
Biden “wants to appear tough on China, and this is a good example of where actions speak louder than words,” said Brian Ott, co-author of “The Twitter Presidency: Donald J. Trump and the Politics of White Rage.
If we find ourselves next year in a presidential debate between the two of them, Trump will try to cast Biden as weak on national security, and Biden will be able turn to Trump and say, ‘How many of these Chinese balloons and unidentified objects did you shoot out of the sky?’”
Ott, a professor of communications at Missouri State University, said Biden’s relative silence on the takedown of the Chinese balloon and other objects could be guided, at least in part, by his 2024 reelection considerations. Republicans, from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to right-wing firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticized Biden in the days after the Chinese balloon was spotted in U.S. airspace for being slow to act.
When pressed on whether the decision to shoot the objects down came in response to such criticism, Kirby insisted: “These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people.”
After the balloon was shot down, the White House revealed that such balloons had traversed U.S. territory at least three times during Trump’s administration unbeknownst to the former president or his aides — and that others have flown over dozens of nations across five continents. Kirby emphasized Monday that they were only detected by the Biden administration.
Jim Ludes, a former national defense analyst who now leads the Pell Center for International Affairs and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, said political parrying is inevitable.
“It doesn’t matter what the administration says. People are going to play politics with it and try to score points," he said. “Either they acted too slowly, or too hastily.”
There’s good reason for the Biden administration to be cautious, Ludes added, noting that the blow-up over the aerial devices comes amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan. The wrong statement from Biden could destabilize an already fraught situation.
“Next time we fly a B-52 down the straits, what does China do?” Ludes said. “There are opportunities for this to become very complex very quickly.”
Kirby on Monday sought to draw a distinction between the latest objects and the confirmed surveillance balloon, emphasizing their far smaller size, lack of maneuverability and the lack of any indication they were communicating before they were shot down. They were only detected, he said, because the U.S. had adjusted the sensitivity on air defense radars to detect high-flying, slow-moving objects like the surveillance balloon.
Officials have yet to retrieve any parts of the three unidentified objects, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, citing the treacherous terrain, water and weather where they were brought down. U.S. officials could not even say whether they were balloons or some other type of aerial vehicle, and have thus far declined to share imagery taken before they were shot down.
All that is clear, it seems, is that it wasn't ET.
Kirby echoed Jean-Pierre on that: “I don’t think the American people need to be worried about aliens with respect to these craft."
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Greenfield Township receives $70,000 for the development of the Greenfield Township Community Park. The project will include the construction of a dog park, pedestrian walkway, internal loop trail, parking area, and access drive; installation of fencing; ADA access, landscaping, project signage, and other related site improvements.
Gov. Wolf Announces $70 Million Investment to Improve Recreation, Community Revitalization Efforts Across Pennsylvania
Governor Tom Wolf today announced an investment of $70 million for 317 projects across Pennsylvania that will revitalize communities, create new recreational opportunities, and conserve natural spaces.
“Our outdoor places are among the things that tie us all together – a place to meet for our health, for enjoyment, for recreation and a draw for tourists,” Gov. Wolf said. “Many of the projects being funded – improvements to local parks, trails, and river access – bring these amenities closer to home, requiring less driving and expense to experience at a time during the pandemic when these opportunities are recognized as critical to our well-being.”
The grants fall under the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Community Conservation Partnerships Program. Funding comes from the Keystone Fund, which is generated from a portion of the realty transfer tax, the Environmental Stewardship Fund, fees for ATV/Snowmobile licenses, and federal monies.
“This important $70 million investment in outdoor recreation, infrastructure, and conservation will leverage approximately $196 million in the local, county, and private investments, giving every state dollar more power for the public good,” Gov. Wolf said.
The grants will support a variety of proposals including 152 projects to rehabilitate or develop recreation, park, and conservation areas and facilities; protect approximately 4,400 acres of open space; 180 acres of streamside forest buffers; and 48 non-motorized and motorized trail projects.
Find a complete list of grants by county on the DCNR website.
Pennsylvania has more than 6,200 local parks and 121 state parks, more than 12,000 miles of trails, and more than 83,000 miles of waterways. Together with more than 2.2 million acres of state forests, the commonwealth has among the largest expanses of public lands in the eastern United States that offer outdoor recreation opportunities in all four seasons.
How is there $70 million dollars to improve parks across the Commonwealth? That money needs to be used to rape victims in the Pennsylvania Prisons. Rape is a real problem in the prison and jail system and what's worse, Governor Tom Wolf has turned and looked the other way. I know he has because I called his office about the rapes in the jails.
From the Book Corporate Conspiracies written by Richard Belzer a.k.a Munch (I pray I spelled his name right); from Law and Order, S.V.U. I want to ask God to bless you for having the balls to write the books you have. Of all the books I have read about government and corporate corruption, none have been more spot on than this one. To find out the truth about prison human trafficking is something I have been talking about for years. Rape is real in jails and prisons, and everyone turns their heads. I know they did that to me in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Yes, the subject is uncomfortable and makes us uncomfortable to talk about. Therefore, we, as a society, tend to look the other way. And worse - we even tend to joke about it, in a feeble effort to allay our discomfort. One needs to look on further than television and movies to see a constant stream of questionable jokes about the certainty of gang rape in jail and prison. Seemingly, folks consider it somehow "OKAY" - even funny - until You are raped, and no one is listening to YOU), that a person incarcerated by the STATE (& A Dirty Judge) will also be subject to sexual assault during their incarcerated. "Don't bend over to pick up the soap" and other such "One-liners" are a part of a regular diet of the attempt of sick humor about a very unfunny topic: RAPE - But it is still rape. How can we joke about that? You are a society, that seems to have a brutal double standard on that subject. If it becomes known that a church member rapes an altar boys - who are in a relatively helpless position - are sodomized by a priest, then there is a massive public outcry. But if prisoners are regularly sodomized, while under the auspices of the poorly termed "correctional system," the great majority of the people pay no attention to it whatsoever. Is that acceptable? Is that morally just? We know Judges sell inmates to the highest bidder to whatever facility that pays the most. I know the judges know about the rapes in Lackawanna County Jail in Pennsylvania. I have seen it happen. I did say something to Pastor Jackson. He made me feel bad about myself. Nobody believes anything that happens to us because they are guilty of the same crimes. Is there anybody who actually believes that isn't really rape? Correctional System is very real! Well, if anybody actually believes that, then you'd better read up on your history, boys 'n girls.
I don't tolerate rape at all! Why do we (YOU) tolerate that? We are not to tolerate rape if it happens to joggers running through a city park. We need to help rape victims in jails and prisons, just like we do joggers and altar boys.
