The Aryan Invasion

Our reputation as a Montana nice place should be fine

By Dave Skinner // // Closing Range, Opinion

For just over a year, we’ve been entertained by the sorry saga of David Lenio, aka PyschicDogTalk2 on Twitter. A Michigan banker’s kid, Lenio moved to the Flathead at the end of December 2014. Six weeks later he was in jail, busted thanks to an amazingly unhinged Twitter duel with Jonathan Hutson, a fellow who just happens to be a professional “media consultant” for progressive causes.

All of a sudden, Montana’s free-speech Bill of Rights standard-bearer is a 9/11 troofer/Occupy Wall Streeter/howling anti-Semite? Wonderful! Even more wonderful, as James Conner (the Flathead’s wisest progressive) wrote in his Flathead Memo commentary, the case (which generated attention from national-level civil-liberties punditry) was “tenuous, difficult to prove, raised important free-speech issues” and was “likely to create bad law” that could significantly harm not just Mr. Lenio’s free-speech rights, but everyone’s.

Despite all that, Mr. Hutson and a tiny gaggle of Flathead progressives seemed determined to “witness” a show trial (with a conviction, of course) and then milk the proceedings in order to slander Flathead County as a haven for heavily-armed bigots – while coincidentally burnishing Mr. Hutson’s resume (and his consulting fees) as a movement hero credited with preventing a mass school shooting.

March 21 was to be Lenio’s big day in court. But on March 4 it was announced Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan and Public Defender Brent Getty had struck a “deferred prosecution” deal: If Lenio breaks the law any time in the next two years, he’ll be back before a judge on intimidation and defamation charges. For now, Lenio’s back in Michigan where we hope his family can straighten him out.

So, was that all? No. Late in March, Mr. Conner alerted me that a Lenio documentary premiered on a cable network I’d never heard of, Investigative Discovery. The title: “A Town on Fire.” The premiere was March 24 – timed perfectly to air during the expected court process.

I don’t have cable, so all I’ve seen is a short clip headlined “How A Potential Mass Shooting Was Prevented Through Twitter.” Mmmm, that fits – and the trailer segment managed to obliterate factuality during that minute.

Unfortunately, this “documentary” is one of a series – “Hate in America,” hosted by former CNN-then-Al Jazeera anchorman Tony Harris. I’m unfamiliar with Harris, but I’ve long ranked Al Jazeera alongside RT Television (Russia Today), Putin’s English-language propaganda arm.

I was even less impressed to learn the series is being produced by Peacock Productions (an NBC subsidiary entity) and that Harris “partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)” on Hate In America. In short, “Hate in America” is a showcase for SPLC.

Now, SPLC once served a useful function, by going to court in order to bankrupt groups that espouse morally-bankrupt ideas. Led by attorney Morris Dees, SPLC fiscally wrecked the Ku Klux Klan and also bankrupted the Aryan Nations in Hayden Lake, sparing Northwesterners the annual neo-Nazi parades in Coeur d’Alene. That’s useful – or it was.

But compared to SPLC’s $37 million judgement against United Klans in 2013, IRS records show that in 2013, SPLC spent $13 million on its civil-rights litigation program, gathering $193,393 in court awards – quite a bit less – and less useful.

Then there is SPLC’s “Hate Map” showing 892 “hate groups” all across America. Montana supposedly has six total, four in Flathead County (Three in progressive Whitefish, no less!) But the two “statewide” groups lack even a Montana post-office box. The three “White Nationalist” groups in Whitefish are affiliates run by one man, Richard Spencer, while the Kalispell group is headed by Northwest Montana’s favorite pop-music stage mom, April Gaede.

So, is Kalispell really a “Town on Fire” with Montana in the throes of an Aryan invasion leading to a fascist, racist takeover of society? No. What about the OTHER 886 “groups” on SPLC’s “Hate Map?”

On the bright side, “A Town On Fire” was broadcast on a network nobody watches, so our reputation as a Montana nice place should be fine. Even brighter, those gullible enough to fall for “Town on Fire’s” slanted narrative will be scared away from moving here. That’s always useful.

  • Dave_Skinner

    Gosh darn it, I messed up again in jamming this thing down to fit. I had a list of several big cases and in chopping them down, mixed them up.
    The judgement against United Klans was SEVEN million in NINETEEN EIGHTY SEVEN. Not 2013. In 1990, SPLC got another big one, $12.5 million against the White Aryans.
    Geesh.

    • Christopher Cunningham

      These things happen, and he edit in the comments section is appreciated Dave! I’m looking forwards to reading through the piece and offering some thoughts on it once through with my shift at work this afternoon. 🙂

    • Richard Jones

      Congrats Dave on having the local white supremacists support your column.

      You are a genius.

  • Christopher Cunningham

    I don’t know Dave. I consider the BBC and Al Jazeera better on the whole than any of the major U.S. news networks when it comes to coverage of international affairs but do agree that RT is a font of Kremlin propaganda. in the past I’ve been warned Al Jazeera doesn’t always maintain neutrality on a handful of hot-button issues, making it prudent to cross check with other sources when in doubt.

    As for the “Aryan Invasion,” I’ve learned to treat the SPLC like an interest group that like all others has its own agenda to pursue and biases affecting their portrayal of information. For the Flathead I am familiar with voices of hate but at the same time haven’t seen anything in the way of compelling evidence to suggest White nationalists in the Flathead do much aside from talking and aspiring to attract conservative support.

    Still, I’m out of the loop on the Lenio story enough to offer more on that than my insistence that freedom of expression take priority unless someone can be shown to depart from talk, taking real steps towards committing acts of violence.

    In lieu of that I will warn that although Kalispell is far from being on the cusp of a fascist coup of sorts the bigotry amidst our community is not altogether imagined.

    To that effect I’ve heard vile, racially-changed epithets directed at me and at minorities by fellow whites, and hear from Native Americans in Western Montana that they’ve had instances of facing verbal and physical violence from racists in our area. At work I’m at times able to overhear racist and antisemitic conversations between visitors and among the young it’s a problem as well, e.g. whilst at FHS I recall teens proposing genocide as the best solution for Islamist extremism. Although I don’t have to see a neo-Nazi banner at KGEZ now that Stokes is gone, swastikas can still be found in public both in Kalispell and Evergreen. It’s obvious to me that some nasty beliefs are brewing here.

    • Jimmy Jazz

      agreed, my general rule is for news about the USA, look to foreign press. and for news about other countries watch US news sources. In general tho you have to look at the wide spectrum of sources to try to see whats really going on. every group has an agenda.

  • rkeefe

    Kudos to Mr. Skinner for being one of the incredibly few people in the media to catch on to the SPLC’s “statewide hate group” ploy.

    When the SPLC publishes its annual “Hate Map” fundraising tool, giving a purported count on the number of “hate groups” per state, it provides absolutely no information that journalists or researchers can use to verify the company’s claims.

    The two statewide “groups” Mr. Skinner noted are among 175 nationwide that are not affiliated with any known city or town. That’s 1 in 5 across the board. In recent years, the percentage of “homeless hate groups” has gone as high as 26% of the total, and yet no one in the media will call the SPLC out on it. Or almost nobody…

    In 2015, the SPLC designated 40 “hate groups” to New Jersey, the fourth highest total in the nation. This prompted Mark Pitcavage, Intelligence Director for the Anti-Defamation League to remark publicly that “The SPLC’s numbers are wildly inflated. They find groups where there are none or only one or two individuals.”

    http://wp.me/pCLYZ-p9

    After being publicly outed by the ADL, the “experts” at the SPLC magically reduced New Jersey’s “hate group” count by half, from 40 to 21 overnight. Really.

    http://wp.me/pCLYZ-tF

    In 2012, the SPLC added 20 chapters of “the Georgia Militia” to that state’s total, even though they could only locate 18 of them. All 20 chapters were counted for the year, nonetheless.
    By 2013, the Georgia Militia had dwindled to 14 chapters, with only two located and 12 “statewide” chapters, as if that makes any sense.
    By 2014, the Georgia Militia had vanished from the “Hate Map” entirely.

    THIS is hard data?

    • Fred Garvin

      Been reading RKeefe’s blog for years. He has linked it above in his post. Check it out for the real scoop on the SPLC. Sickening they are constantly quoted in media and partnering with government, when in reality, they’re a sham entity most interested in fundraising.

      • rkeefe

        Thanks for your kind support, Fred!

        I get nearly all of my numbers directly from the SPLC’s own website and other fundraising materials. All of these materials are readily available to anyone who wants to find them.

        The problem is that the media and government organizations that quote the SPLC have their own motives for doing so, and it mostly boils down to money.

  • FourisOn

    It’s nice to see the propaganda arm of the reigning PC nightmare pseudo-state focusing its eye on our county. We must be doing something right.

  • PsychicDogTalk Radio

    So do Americans have the right to say the things it is alleged Lenio said? you’d think a country that supposedly celebrates freedom could have got to the bottom of this simple question already. USSA USSA USSA!

    My guess is his tweets were severely taken out of context and were still simply satire expressing a political point or ideas after the charlie hebdo and Copenhagen free speech events resulting in terrorists attacks.

    also if the Flathead does become known as “hate group” shelter, it may be good for local kids struggling to pay for expensive real estate in the area with such low paying jobs.

    when will the SPLC write a report on this non-Christian dude singing songs about shooting school kids and killing cops? #doubleStandards

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtHi47B6JU

    Does anyone remember local jews trying to pass anti-free speech bills in whitefish because someone showed a historic film about the holohoax they deemed untrue, long before this person even started saying wild stuff (probably in response and to make a point in this once great country…)?

    Also until congress can explain what happened to WTC building seven, I don’t like anyone pretending 9/11 “troofers” are kooks. no plane hit building 7 yet it imploded into itself at free fall speed! get real.

    And hey lets try to amend the US constitution so we can have anyone who denies the holocaust thrown in jail for at least 5 months, you know cuz historic events and modern propaganda don’t need to fear inquiry. nothing to see here. move along.

  • Jimmy Jazz

    So do Americans have the right to say the things it is alleged Lenio said? you’d think a country that supposedly celebrates freedom could have got to the bottom of this simple question already. USSA USSA USSA!

    I think the tweets were severely taken out of context and are still simply satire expressing a political point or ideas after the charlie hebdo and Copenhagen free speech events resulting in terrorists attacks.

    also if the Flathead does become known as “hate group” shelter, it may be good for local kids struggling to pay for expensive real estate in the area with such low paying jobs.

    when will the SPLC write a report on this non-Christian dude singing songs about shooting school kids and killing cops? #doubleStandards

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtHi47B6JU

    Does anyone remember local jews trying to pass anti-free speech bills in whitefish because someone showed a historic film about the holohoax they deemed untrue, long before Lenio even started saying wild stuff (possibly in response to calls for censorship and to make a point in this once great country…)?

    Also until congress can explain what happened to WTC building seven, I don’t like anyone pretending 9/11 “troofers” are kooks. no plane hit building 7 yet it imploded into itself at free fall speed! get real.

    And hey lets try to amend the US constitution so we can have anyone who denies the holocaust thrown in jail for at least 5 months, you know cuz historic events and modern propaganda don’t need to fear words and inquiry. nothing to see here. move along.

    • Dave_Skinner

      It was too stupid to be satire, frankly. I read through a couple of the tweet strings before they were taken completely down and there were TWO participants, who both handled the matter in a less-than-optimal form. Bad and bad don’t add up to good.
      Bottom line is free speech dodged, if not a bullet, at least a pellet.

      • Jimmy Jazz

        have you read all of the tweets in their full context? I have been looking and can’t seem to find the full context anywhere. Until the full context is released i’ll wait before forming an opinion.

        http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-calls-for-civil-targeted-killings-of-bds-leaders/5517420

        I don’t care if you find his statements any stupider than your average gangsta rap, the question remains. Did he have the the right to tweet the things he allegedly tweeted? If that can be deemed a threat than almost anyone could be thrown in jail these days for any un-PC joke or comment. What are you trying to say with that dodged a bullet comment there buddy?

        Here’s a good question i have yet to see addressed. If someone (mentally ill or not) is having any thought about committing an act of violence, do we really want laws making it illegal for them to say something which could be used to identify a potential attack before it occurs?

        banning this type of speech seems counter productive even if it protects stupid speech or mentally ill madmen.

        • FourisOn

          Jews are desperately trying to ban free speech in America, as they have all across Europe. There is plenty of information online about this. Free speech about Jewish perfidy is a remaining element of Western “Christofascism” that must be eliminated.

          This was a pre-made case set for this locale where the law and culture was favorable. They found a shabbos goy in DC and went about looking for a defendant. Lenio was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Jews were all up in the local power structure but they could find no Pilate to wash his hands of the situation and crucify Lenio.

          God bless America and God bless Montana.

          • Christopher Cunningham

            Oh what a surprise – Four found a way to blame Jews for Lenio’s predicament. I could have never seen that one coming. 😛

          • FourisOn

            What a surprise — Cunningham refuses to see ethnic self-interest in the world, even when it’s staring him right in face.

          • Jimmy Jazz

            So who is to blame?

            1. did Lenio have the right to say the things he said meaning the county is in the wrong here?

            or

            2. lenio is to blame and that type of speech should be prohibited by the bill of rights?

            or

            3. jewish people trying to ban free speech and holocaust denial is maybe partly what inspired Lenio’s outrageous gangsta rap lyrics and first amendment freedom of expression is complicated?

            I can’t even imagine being a high school civics teacher trying to explain this case to local students.

          • Christopher Cunningham

            The Lenio case hasn’t been of sufficient interest for me to follow it but I am inclined to say most of the fault falls on Lenio’s shoulders only if his statements were accompanied by subsequent acts construed to be a follow-through on a threat of violence. I don’t know what evidence was brought forth either way, hence my lack of focus on Lenio earlier.

            What I have taken issue with is how some people insist on simplifying social conflict. There’s a popular delusion among my comrades in the SPUSA, for example, of the bourgeoisie being to blame for just about all America’s problems. On this site there are parallels, as when Jews are used as scapegoats by certain posters. The problem isn’t limited local to reactionaries, of course. Others also assume the best of “us,” the worst of “them,” and cherry-pick among sources to reinforce their personal biases. It’s disappointing to see.

            But yeah… without enough critical thinking, media literacy, and education we end up with ignorance blossoming as a prolific weed in pretty much every political camp.

          • FourisOn

            “What I object to is how some insist on simplifying social conflict.”

            So you’re going to take issue with Dave here, right? I agree with 90% of his positions but one observation about the similarities of current Jewish behavior with historical Jewish behavior and it’s off to a “cold, distant place.” That’s the definition of simple, and that’s what you get with Jews. That’s how you survive as a tribe for 2000 years.

            “It is the norm for humans to assume the best of “us,” the worst of “them,” and cherry-pick among sources to reinforce their biases. It takes deliberate effort to move beyond that.”

            Not even remotely. It is the norm for people (especially today) to ignore everything that creates conflict in their life. It actually takes deliberate effort to move beyond that and realize there are civilizations and worlds at stake and you need to make a choice. Not spend hours upon hours writing page after page about why you don’t have to make a choice. If you’re going to do that at least acknowledge you are making a choice — the choice that you’re happy that most of your neighbors are going to increasingly feel like they’re in a “cold, distant place” in their own country. I wonder how the people who pay their taxes to support your salary at the library would feel about that?

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2vp_OoT8DI

          • Dave23

            I take the Jews over Aryan Nation any day.

          • Christopher Cunningham

            It’s Dave’s prerogative to decide how to respond to folks who go out of their way to focus on and demonize one ethnic nation.

            For me, I already know there are several civilizations engaged in a global competition. I’m also an anti-Zionist out of opposition both to ongoing human rights abuses occurring in the Levant and for a broader opposition to theocracy and ethnic biases in government wherever they emerge around the world.

            Concerning choices, of course I make them. One of mine is to reject traditional insistence of loyalty to a particular tribe. You’re entitled to assert that diversity is guaranteed to make the States a cold, distant place for people but the rest of us are free to disagree.

        • Dave_Skinner

          That’s a good question. No, I don’t think what was said should be illegal unless it reaches the point of incitement or motivates others to act illegally. Anything short of that is, um, USEFUL social information. We build (or end) our social relationships based on what we say and do to one another, and what we say and do determines our place in the social matrix.
          Just as a point of argument, let’s go back to Mein Kampf. I have read only an English translation, not the German, but it is terrible writing, just a jumble of really bad ideas from one who turned out to be a really evil person. Should it have been suppressed? Or not? And then, why in heck did Germans not send Hitler packing to the poorhouse?
          Free speech isn’t the issue, but rather how we as individuals and as a society react to the information we get from “free speech.”
          Finally, see Four’s comment immediately below. I’m half “kosher” and based on his statement, he has now been allocated a place in my social matrix — a cold, distant place. See how it works?
          Ain’t the First Amendment cool?

          • Jimmy Jazz

            Free speech is totally the only issue here and I’ll be frank, Hitler came to power due to economic issues similar to what we have in the USA today. Frankly if I had to pick from seeing one more infringement on our first or second amendment rights (such as laws against holohoax claiming and extra-jewi$h permit fees to own certain guns), or seeing every least jew (or half kosher idiot) in the entire world systematically executed after being subjected to 3 months of gitmo style torture, i’d say start rounding them up. Criticism jews or their politics is nothing new and the minute it becomes outlawed I expect to see legitimate violent opposition to the cults political power.

            To be honest i would love to see who Americans find more electable, David Duke or Hillary Clinton? I personally would take Hitler and four more holocaust rather than one american spending even one minute in jail for some jewish speech or victim-less gun crime. Ever wonder why jews have been tossed out of so many countries thru out history for political reasons? cuz i’d like to see jewish politics removed from the gene pool faster than #whiteGenocide.

            of course that rabbi isn’t cry bullying about how her co-cultists in israel aren’t taking in non white Syrian refuges… #ethnicPurity

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKDeyuM0-Og

  • MissLily

    The Aryan Nation is America’s cesspool, filled with excrement fit only for flushing down the toilet and allowed to rot among themselves.

    • FourisOn

      So you’re saying it’s like Browning then?

      • Richard Jones

        Where are all the rest of your buddies at this morning? Big Klan meeting?

        • Edgar

          Is Miss Lilly your wife? You are both equally crazy

      • MissLily

        If you don’t like Indians then leave Montana. Because we aren’t!

  • Richard Jones

    KKKalispell didn’t get that nickname for no reason.

    Dave – you and the Aryan nation vote for the same candidates, so own up to the FACT that you support the same causes.

    • LinuxLewis

      The SPLC is responsible for more murders over the last decade than the Aryan Nations…. anyone taking them as a legitimate group is simply delusional.
      Not to mention the SPLC was afraid to show up to a media event to debate their views…they are just clowns that run around with a knife in their hand

      • Richard Jones

        Does anyone think that the aryan nation is a legitimate group?

        If your entire argument for being better is based on the color of your skin then you really haven’t accomplished much in life.

        You seem like just as big of a loser as the rest of them, thanks for slinking out of your hole to share these wonderful views.

        • FourisOn

          Do you really think that Love Lives Here or its mothership the SPLC is a legitimate group? If your entire argument is based on your genetic affiliation with some tribe than you really haven’t accomplished much in life.

          Slinking out of their holes like thieves in the night, intimidating the Gefilte Fish Council to abandon historical tradition — for no good reason.

          Slinking out of their holes like thieves in the night to try and steal freedom of speech.

          Slinking out their holes at every chance to destroy Christian culture. —16 million dollars a day to maintain their homeland
          — Millions and countless lives to “free” Europe for them when they got up to the same degeneracy over there
          — Control over foreign policy
          — Control over mass media so they can pump filth and propaganda over our airwaves 24/7.

          A simple thank you would have been nice. Thanks for crawling out your hole to share your wonderful views though.

    • Dave_Skinner

      You’re conflating correlation with causation, Twitchard.

      Given your “logic” — what about that town in the upper valley? Three hate groups, called WHITEfish. I mean, the pattern is clear, clear.

  • Fast

    White Trailer Park creatures shouldn’t breed💩

    • FourisOn

      Are you a charter member of Love Lives Here?

  • Dave_Skinner

    Mark, that auction item was not an “assault rifle.” Makes me glad you’re no longer a RINO — reporter in name only. Stick to jazz.

    • Mark Holston

      Hi Dave.
      Thanks for the suggestion. Actually, jazz has been quite good to me for the past 30 years. In just the past six months, my international stature as a music critic has earned me invitations to attend, as a guest journalist, festivals in Argentina, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia. But my portfolio as a journalist is a bit more expansive. I wear more than one hat and can actually chew gum and walk at the same time.
      I’ve been a guest columnist in The Wall Street Journal, have reported from Germany, Taiwan, Colombia, Panama, Brazil and Venezuela for The Washington Times and have presented academic papers on press censorship, religion, media culture and other topics at international conferences in the U.S., Canada, South Korea and elsewhere. Have served twice as an Invited Scholar at the Smithsonian Institute. And on and on. Sorry to bore you these trivial details about my career in journalism.
      However, I’m sorry to see a fine writer like you (an honest appraisal) fall into the semantic trap of what is or is not an “assault rifle.” I realize that from your side of the street the term is viewed in very technical terms and always amounts to a “gotcha” moment — “Ha, those dopy liberals don’t know the difference between a real ‘assault rifle’ and a rifle that’s just made to look like one.” I understand why you would not want to address the larger issue of a school, particularly one that believes it occupies high moral ground than the common public school, being involved in using any lethal firearm to raise money.
      Whether a .22 single shot rifle or a fake “assault rifle” with a large capacity magazine, it seems like something, from my point of view, that is quite inappropriate in a school setting in any capacity. Any firearm could do – and has done – an incredible amount of damage in a school setting. A dead or wounded student or staff member is just as dead or injured regardless of the type of firearm used. So, hide behind your silly “Oh my God, he doesn’t even know what an ‘assault rifle’ is” position. I actually do know because I qualified with one while in the Armed Services.

  • Robert Petersen

    I’ve been trying to figure out who is paying to broadcast RT over-the-air in the Flathead. It’s not cheap running even a low-power A/V transmitter, not to mention the initial buy-in. They don’t seem to have advertisers so it makes me wonder who is so interested in spreading this noxious propaganda disguised as news. Check that-I have to admit if you read between the lines it IS about the only network covering the Middle East conflicts. That said from reading the comments it looks like the Zika virus is more of a widespread problem than we thought. I have a theory about Egypti mosquitos breeding in water pooled up on all those flat double-wide roofs. Anybody out there who knows who our Russian benefactor is? Maybe a Russian Mafia money laundering scheme?

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