Posted on 08/08/2014 7:43:54 PM PDT by MtnClimber
I was in a government threat briefing recently and they brought up the "Sovreign Citizen" movement as a threat even before islamic extreamism. I had never heard of Sovreign Citizen, but I surely have heard and seen the destruction by islamic exremists. Am I missing something? Are these Sovreign Citizens just labels being tagged to TEA Party members? I am just suspicious that the greatest security threat in the USA is a group I have never heard of. Can anyone fill me in on this?
Trouble from what I’ve seen.
See the Wikipedia article.
They think they are bound by common law only.
Some of them get into convoluted reasoning about how they write their names, in quote marks, or capital letters, that this asserts their indepedence from the government.
Not Tea Party people.
A guy from my area was supposedly one. Him and another guy killed a couple of cops in Arkansas or Louisiana. It’s not an organized group. Anyone can call themselves a Sovereign Citazen.
Do you mean sovereign, with the extra e?
Like the illiterate back in the day using “X”?
They are anti government, but they are nutters.
The word is sovereign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/05/nation/la-na-sovereigns-20130406
In short, they deny the jurisdiction of the federal government.
Often propose that despite the constitutional amendment taxes are illegal.
Often associated, but not exclusively, with white supremacist groups.
Often associated, but not exclusively, with Christian Identity movement.
Often violently antigovernment.
Most subscribe to some serious conspiracy theories about government, the treasury, and citizenship.
In my previous life as a Chicago LEO I can share this.
The ones in big cities, anyway, are just kooks. The usually come from a Black Nationalist mindset (not Farrakhan’s crew, however).
They think they can make their own license plates, make their own driver’s licenses and like to argue with the police.
They are, however, not stupid enough to not file tax returns because then they would be giving up all that free government stuff.
They are low-income and not organized. Anyone trying to organize them would find that they are pretty much a bunch of worthless goofs.
They are pointed out and demonized by the G because in inner cities you certainly cannot have anyone denying the benefits of BIG G.
Pretty much. The media calls them conservative but they’re anything but. They say that the laws of America don’t apply to them. I recently read a rant from one complaining that the tea party and militia groups were all government patsies because we haven’t started a violent revolution for them.
There have been a couple of cops killed by them but I don’t think they’re much of a threat in the sense of terrorists. All around loons.
There was a group in Texas, called themselves sovereign citizens and tried to organize a ‘Republic of Texas’. AG and Rangers got a bit tired of them, and they were arrested with no violence.
About STARTThe irony is that Dr. Gary LaFree contributed to this report as well:
OverviewThe National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism—better known as START—is a university-based research and education center comprised of an international network of scholars committed to the scientific study of the causes and human consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world.
Headquartered at the University of Maryland, START supports the research efforts of leading social scientists at more than 50 academic and research institutions, each of whom is conducting original investigations into fundamental questions about terrorism, including:
•What is the nature of terrorism in the world today? How has terrorist activity evolved over time? How does terrorism vary across geographies? And what do these trends indicate about likely future terrorism?
•Under what conditions does an individual or a group turn to terrorism to pursue its goals? What is the nature of the radicalization process?
•How does terrorism end? What are the processes of deradicalization and disengagement from terrorism for groups and individuals?
•What actions can governments take to counter the threat of terrorism?
•What impact does terrorism and the threat of terrorism have on communities, and how can societies enhance their resilience to minimize the potential impacts of future attacks?START experts apply a range of research methods to the exploration of these questions in order to deliver findings based on the best available open-source evidence and data. At the heart of START's work are the principles that the research it is conducting must be both scientifically rigorous and directly relevant to homeland security professionals.
START is committed to the widespread dissemination of its research findings not only to homeland security professionals through tailored research, education and training efforts, but also to students of all levels and to the general public. START has developed educational materials and programs specifically designed for instructors and students at the secondary, university, and graduate levels. Educational resources available through START include relevant teaching tools and a range of unique data sources that can be integrated into an array of courses to deepen students' understanding of the dynamics of terrorism. START also has internships and funding opportunities available to undergraduate and graduate students engaged in terrorism research.
In addition, START has developed educational programs, including an Undergraduate Global Terrorism Minor Program available to students at the University of Maryland and an online Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis Program, available to qualified students around the world.
Since its launch in 2005, START has been headed by Dr. Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland, and START's work is managed by a small staff of terrorism experts and university administrators at Maryland, who work closely with the collection of scholars and students that comprise the START Consortium.
Among many points in this paper, it makes distinction between many groups. You have to read & comprehend to grasp it...I'm unable to adequately summarize. However, I did pull this interesting quote:
Extremists strive to create a homogeneous society based on rigid, dogmatic ideological tenets; they seek to make society conformist by suppressing all opposition and subjugating minorities. That distinguishes them from mere radicals who accept diversity and believe in the power of reason rather than dogma.42 In the context of democratic societies, (violent) extremist groups, movements and parties tend to have a political programme that contains many of the following elements:Sorta sounds like our current Administration, doesn't it???
• Anti-constitutional, anti-democratic, anti-pluralist, authoritarian;
• Fanatical, intolerant, non-compromising, single-minded black-or-white thinkers;
• Rejecting the rule of law while adhering to an ends-justify-means philosophy;
• Aiming to realise their goals by any means, including, when the opportunity offers itself, the use of massive political violence against opponents.Extremists on the political left and right and those of a religious-fundamentalist orientation as well as those of an ethno-nationalist political hue tend, in their struggle to gain, maintain or defend state power, to show a propensity to prefer, on their paths to realise their political programmes:
• Use of force/violence over persuasion;
• Uniformity over diversity;
• Collective goals over individual freedom;
• Giving orders over dialogue.43
I think it was in Louisiana a couple years ago that a group of 6 meth heads calling themselves sovereign citizens ambushed and killed a cop.
I live in the heart of Hutaree territory and they are a whole different animal. Mike Meeks spoke at a townhall meeting a while back just to answer questions from the locals. He made it very clear that they are not anti government and have no plans to overthrow anything outside the ballot box. Said they don’t like to pay taxes but will do so when there are no legal means to avoid them.
OK, thanks. I don’t think I have ever met one of these. I find the communist/socialist/progressive/democRATS to be far more dangerous. Look at how many that those of their ilk have killed. Their own citizens. They have killed maybe 250 million in the last 100 years...I call that a threat. (please forward to dear leader zer0)
Thanks for the reply. It sounds like they are crazies.
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