Donald Miller illegally collected thousands of Native American bones, FBI says - The Washington Post

By all accounts, the amateur museum that Donald C. Miller ran out of his home in the cornfields of central Indiana wasn’t exactly a secret. Newspaper reporters, Boy Scout troops and residents of the rural farming community of Waldron, Ind., were all invited to drop in and look around in his basement, where glass cases covered most of the walls. Tens of thousands of rare cultural artifacts were on display — including pre-Columbian pottery, Ming Dynasty jade, an Egyptian sarcophagus and a dugout canoe that had traveled down the Amazon River. And the eccentric nonagenarian collector was part of the attraction.

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But when the FBI’s art crime detectives showed up and began sifting through Miller’s extensive collection in April 2014, suspecting that many of the relics carefully laid out in the cabinets had been obtained in violation of antiquities laws, they came across something that horrified them: about 2,000 human bones, nearly all of which are thought to have been taken from ancient Native American burial sites.

“To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings,” Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI’s art theft unit, told CBS News in an interview that aired Tuesday. “It’s very staggering."

Miller, a Christian missionary and ham radio operator who claimed to have worked on the Manhattan Project, died at age 91 in 2015, nearly a year after the FBI raided his home and seized about 42,000 items whose cultural value was said to be immeasurable. Until this week, officials had provided little information about the case, and had declined to go into detail about exactly what the art crimes detectives had found inside the prolific collector’s home.

Donald Miller illegally collected thousands of Native American bones, FBI says - The Washington Post

Feds: Indiana man linked to "anti-abortion extremist organization" threatened clinic attacks | abc7chicago.com

A man who federal investigators say pledged allegiance to the domestic terror group "Army of God" is facing charges connected with a threat to bomb and burn down Chicago-area abortion clinics.

Luke Wiersma from Dyer, Ind., appeared in federal court late Wednesday after threatening to blow up an abortion clinic to stop the "unmitigated murders of fetuses." According to court records he also outed himself to federal authorities by sending anonymous tips into the FBI warning of his intention.

"Luke Wiersma is a danger to society. He plans on committing crimes against abortion clinics. He has threatened to 'do whatever is necessary to stop the unmitigated murders of fetuses at baby killing mills.' I don't know what he meant but I think he is possibly planning a violent attack," anonymous messages to the FBI read.

Feds: Indiana man linked to "anti-abortion extremist organization" threatened clinic attacks | abc7chicago.com

Music director backs out on position at Catholic Diocese of Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

The newly appointed music director for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando withdrew from the job before his background check was completed and while the FBI was conducting a child-exploitation investigation in Long Island, N.Y., where he directed youth choirs.

Michael Wustrow was supposed to begin his new job Nov. 1 at St. James Cathedral in downtown Orlando.

Wustrow, 55, who could not be reached for comment, was co-music director for St. Agnes Cathedral in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and had directed adult and children choirs when the FBI seized his work computer, the New York diocese announced Friday on its website.

The diocese relieved him of all duties, and a spokesman said the diocese was cooperating with law enforcement.

Music director backs out on position at Catholic Diocese of Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

White supremacists sign up for military to train for race war — with little pushback from Pentagon

“The soldiers learn from unconventional warfare in Iraq and they realize that they can use that type of warfare in America, and it’s impossible to stop. I tell people to learn as much as you can to improve munitions capabilities, patrolling; I want them to learn sniping and explosives, the Green Berets.”

Dennis Mahon, white supremacist sentenced to 40 years for a bomb attack that injured a black city official in Phoenix.

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According to the FBI, there are hundreds of white supremacists in the US army or in the veteran community. Some analysts even estimate the number is in the thousands. In America, 203 white supremacist “extremist cases” investigated by the Bureau from 2001 to 2008 involved veterans. The problem hasn’t gone away. Neo-Nazi veteran Wade Michael Page attacked six worshippers at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 2012.

I spent a number of years investigating how neo-Nazis and white supremacists had infiltrated the US military, with very little push back from the Pentagon, which was desperate to keep the supply of troops flowing for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

As part of my research, I spoke to veterans who had become white supremacists before service and joined to gain access to weapons and training, as well as veterans who had been radicalized after returning from the war.

Charles Wilson, spokesman for the National Socialist Movement, one of the top neo-Nazi groups in America, was frank about his attempts to populate the US armed forces with extremists: “We do encourage [our members] to sign up for the military. We can use the training to secure the resistance to our government. Every one of them takes a pact of secrecy … Our military doesn’t agree with our political beliefs, they are not supposed to be in the military, but they’re there, in ever greater numbers.” He claimed to have 190 members serving.

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When the Department of Homeland Security warned in 2009 that disenchanted veterans wooed by white supremacist movements could lead to the “potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks”, the report was lambasted by right-wing politicians and commentators. Michelle Malkin called it “one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read” and “anti-military bigotry”.

One comment did make an interesting point, "White supremacy roots get in the way of the Army's mission because it doesn't have time to manage people's egos. This article is reaching a bit."  Under normal circumstances, I might agree with that assessment.  Although this is not a new issue or concern, it is an issue that has, until recently, only been talked about behind partially closed doors. 

The Department of Defense has a long-standing policy of intolerance for organizations, practices or activities that are discriminatory in nature.  DOD Directive 1325.6, Guidelines for Handling Dissent and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces,” was issued in 1969 as one of many measures taken to renew, clarify, and emphasize that policy. Despite the specific language of this directive, reports in 1986 of Army and Marine Corps members participating in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activities forced Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger to reaffirm the Defense Department’s position via the priority message cited above. Yet new cases of service member involvement with extremist organizations continue to make the headlines. In February 1990, five Air Force security policemen were discharged for active participation in the Ku Klux Klan. One of the five was a chief recruiter who took part in cross-burnings and planned a KKK chapter in Denton, Texas. The following year, an Army sergeant pleaded guilty along with three others to weapon charges in an apparent conspiracy to stockpile military hardware for use by white supremacist groups. According to one civilian media account, the arsenal included “land mines, machine guns, TNT, and anti-aircraft weaponry” and was “large enough to blow up the Gator Bowl.” In October 1993, four airmen in Alaska were discharged from the Air Force for burning a cross and using racial slurs. Finally, as recently as 1995, two Army soldiers committed two racially motivated murders at Fort Bragg, NC, resulting in the death of two African Americans and prompting a DOD review of the 1986 policy and a subsequent revision in 1996.

White supremacists sign up for military to train for race war — with little pushback from Pentagon

FBI’s warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten | theGrio

If you remember, back in November of last year I posted this article by Matt Osborne of Breitbart Unmasked - Invisible Empire? Racist Police And The KKK's 2014 Nationwide Recruiting Drive.  In concluding his piece - where he briefly mentions this 2013 report (LAW AND ORDER AND WHITE POWER: WHITE SUPREMACIST INFILTRATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE NEED TO ELIMINATE RACISM IN THE RANKS)
 which discusses how law enforcement agencies are a "primary target for infiltration":

White supremacy ideology endures in the United States. White supremacy adherents strategize on how to implement their vision of a white America. Members pledge on their membership card of the Knights Party, a Klan-affiliated white supremacist group, to work for the “protection of the White race” and to advance their cause in “all areas of society, whether economic, judicial, social, educational, scientific, or political.”  To reach all areas of society, white supremacists seek to infiltrate the political establishment, the military, and law enforcement.  This article focuses on white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement, the dangers posed by such infiltration, and the need for law enforcement employers to discharge racist officers.

I pointed out that he asked a very important question. ",,,but what about the extremists wearing badges?" It is an issue that is not new.

In October of 2006, the FBI published a report called “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.” The report basically warns that white supremacist leaders have “historically shown an interest in infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.”

According to “The Grio,” a number of key events foreshadowed the report:

Several key events preceded the report. A federal court found that members of a Los Angeles sheriffs department formed a Neo Nazi gang and habitually terrorized the black community. Later, the Chicago police department fired Jon Burge, a detective with reputed ties to the Ku Klux Klan, after discovering he tortured over 100 black male suspects. Thereafter, the Mayor of Cleveland discovered that many of the city police locker rooms were infested with “White Power” graffiti. Years later, a Texas sheriff department discovered that two of its deputies were recruiters for the Klan.

In near prophetic fashion, after the FBI’s warning, white supremacy extremism in the U.S. increased, exponentially. From 2008 to 2014, the number of white supremacist groups, reportedly, grew from 149 to nearly a thousand, with no apparent abatement in their infiltration of law enforcement.

This year, alone, at least seven San Francisco law enforcement officers were suspended after an investigation revealed they exchanged numerous “White Power” communications laden with remarks about “lynching African-Americans and burning crosses.” Three reputed Klan members that served as correction officers were arrested for conspiring to murder a black inmate. At least four Fort Lauderdale police officers were fired after an investigation found that the officers fantasized about killing black suspects.

FBI’s warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten | theGrio

Domestic extremists suckered youngsters into gathering intel on police officers - The Week

Sovereign citizens groups are scary. For police officers, they're violent extremists. Now at least one group of sovereign citizens duped young people into collecting the addresses of police officers and other first responders in Austin, Texas.

An FBI alert from the bureau's San Antonio Division — obtained in August by the non-profit Web site Public Intelligence — details the creepy scheme.

Through late July of last year, small teams of "young individuals" combed through neighborhoods in Austin knocking on doors, according to the alert. When someone answered, the canvassers explained they worked for a fundraising group that helps students master public speaking.

As part of their training — the teams explained — they needed to learn about the professions of the people they spoke with.

The canvassers were then awarded points based on the job of the person they talked to. Different jobs were worth different points. The kids carried yellow note cards that referenced the 15 jobs worth points and their value. The list included professions such as nurse, doctor, and firefighter.

Police officers were worth 2,000 points, the highest value.

In exchange for points, the organizers promised cash prizes and scholarships. More cops and firefighters meant more money.

The alert also explained that the students, "carried a paper card stating the individuals who were in possession of the card were allowed to be doing what they were doing per constitutional law and they were not required to show any identification or be restricted from their duties by state or local officials."

The card carried no contact information for any organization. The canvassers showed the card to anyone asking questions.

In truth, there was no group geared towards improving the public speaking skills of young people. There were no scholarships or money. A sovereign citizens group — the FBI believes — conned the kids into doing their dirty work. This whole thing was just a clever way for domestic extremists to collect the addresses of first responders.

Domestic extremists suckered youngsters into gathering intel on police officers - The Week

Fruitland Park police shaken by KKK charges - Orlando Sentinel

I guess a simple way of looking at this is, if you belong to a "subversive group" that is centered on discrimination based on minority status then you don't belong in a job to serve and protect the public. That aside, I do wonder how this incident will be interpreted in regards to the First Amendment and freedom of speech. An interesting conundrum.
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Fruitland Park police Chief Terry Isaacs said his department has been shaken by troubling but unproven allegations that a deputy chief and a former police corporal were associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

The allegations, contained in a confidential FBI report provided to Isaacs by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, led to the sudden resignation of Deputy Chief David Borst and Isaacs' decision Friday to dismiss Officer George Hunnewell.

Isaacs would not confirm that the report linked the two officers to the KKK, instead describing the group as a "subversive organization." He said he couldn't be more exact in his description because he thought he was not authorized to release details of the report. Issacs said the document was given to him as chief to consider how the allegations might affect the officers' credibility and the perception of the department in the community.

Chief Deputy State Attorney Ric Ridgway, from whom Isaacs sought advice, identified the KKK as the hate group.

"It's not a crime to be a member of the KKK, even if you are the deputy chief. It's not a crime to be stupid," Ridgway said, in a previous interview. "It's not a crime to hate people. It may be despicable, it may be immoral, but it's not a crime."

Fruitland Park police shaken by KKK charges - Orlando Sentinel

Activists open up about 1971 FBI burglary - latimes.com

Before WikiLeaks, before Edward Snowden, and before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks turned most government offices into fortresses, there were eight people with suitcases who broke into an FBI office housed in a suburban apartment building.

They knew the building superintendent would be preoccupied that night. Like millions of Americans on March 8, 1971, he was next to his radio, transfixed by the "Fight of the Century" between heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and challenger Muhammad Ali. They stuffed the luggage full of documents, which within days were slipped into large envelopes headed for the desks of journalists, politicians and activists.

More than 40 years after the break-in, which revealed a spying program run by J. Edgar Hoover that targeted antiwar and civil rights activists, some of the burglars went public Tuesday to discuss an event that they say is more pertinent than ever in this age of ramped-up surveillance.

We're hoping that by coming forward today, we can remind Americans of the abuses unchecked police power can lead to," said Bonnie Raines, 72, who along with her husband, John, took part in planning and carrying out the burglary in the small town of Media, Pa., about 12 miles west of Philadelphia.

The statute of limitations on the burglary ran out in 1976, but the five years leading up to that were tense. FBI agents once visited the Raineses' home. A sketch of Bonnie Raines — who had visited the FBI office in a ruse to study its security setup — had circulated around FBI offices, showing a slender woman in horn-rimmed glasses with her hair tucked under a cap.

Luck and timing helped the burglars elude capture.

Activists open up about 1971 FBI burglary - latimes.com
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See also:
‘It was time to do more than protest’: 1971 burglars who exposed FBI spying finally come forward to tell their story