Showing posts with label J.J. MacNab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J.J. MacNab. Show all posts

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Sovereign citizens now consist of all colors and creeds | The Kansas City Star

While today’s movement remains largely white and still has some followers with racist leanings, a surge in the number of nonwhite sovereign citizens is underway across the country. And the biggest growth, experts say, is within an African-American branch called Moorish sovereigns, which is disseminating its ideas to a whole new batch of recruits.

“It’s a new world,” said J.J. MacNab, an author who for two decades has been tracking anti-government extremists. “And Missouri is like ground zero.”

The common denominator between sovereign citizens and more left-wing black separatists, MacNab said, is the sense of being powerless and having no voice.

“You have a group of right-wing people who feel voiceless,” said MacNab, who also is a fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. “You look at the angst in Ferguson and you hear a lot of the same things. They would not recognize it in each other, but they have a lot of the same complaints, which is that the world is changing and we don’t get a say in it.”
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“They are much more reflective of the demographics of society today,” he said. “You have white people, you have African-Americans, you have Asians, you have Native Americans. The sovereign citizen movement has really become a melting pot.”

And Moorish nationals are increasingly occupying a bigger portion of the pot, experts say.
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Although most of their criminal activity has involved mortgage and property fraud, the proliferation is a concern, Harris said.

“Right now, they’re more into the social upheaval movement rather than attacks on law enforcement,” he said. “But with their loose affiliation with the New Black Panther Party, who have called for the killing of police officers, that could change.”


Sovereign citizens now consist of all colors and creeds | The Kansas City Star

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

As Pressure Mounts To 'Demilitarize' Police, Sovereign Citizens Arm For War - Forbes

On July 30, 2014, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland released a report entitled “Understanding Law Enforcement Intelligence Processes.” According to the officers polled for the study, the Sovereign Citizen movement is the number one domestic terrorism threat today, a big jump from just seven years ago when the group was seventh on the list.

In the months since the poll data information was gathered, both the United States and Canada have experienced a considerable increase in sovereign activity – a violent wave of ambushes, attacks, and domestic terrorism plots aimed specifically at law enforcement.

As Pressure Mounts To 'Demilitarize' Police, Sovereign Citizens Arm For War - Forbes

Saturday, May 3, 2014

‘Sovereign citizens’ plaster courts with bogus legal filings—and some turn to violence

This is a fantastic article and lays a good foundation as to what they "believe" and the tactics used. "Paper terrorists" is an apt description,,,

What all of these cases have in common is that they are part of a movement of "sovereign citizens," according to law enforcement officials. Sovereigns—also called "freemen on the land" or "organic citizens"—believe that an illegitimate, usurper federal government has taken over, and that they don't have to pay taxes, pull over their cars for police or obey any other law they don't like.

These beliefs may sound silly, but sovereigns can be difficult to laugh off. For one thing, even though they don't believe they're subject to laws, they use laws as weapons. The FBI has called sovereigns "paper terrorists" because they so often fight perceived enemies—generally public employees—by filing false liens, false tax documents or spurious lawsuits. These can hurt the victim's credit, stymie attempts to sell or refinance property, and take years and thousands in legal fees to correct.

The trouble doesn't stop there. When involved in any legal matter, from pet licensing to serious criminal charges, sovereigns are known for filing legal-sounding gibberish, usually pro se, learned from other sovereigns who sell lessons in "law" online. Frequently, they cite the Uniform Commercial Code, maritime law and the Bible.

They're also known for the sheer volume of their filings, which can double the size of a normal docket. This can frustrate and delay courts as they consider the defendant's competence and otherwise try to minimize disruptions. With many court systems fighting heavy caseloads and budget cuts, these extra headaches are unwelcome.

And though most sovereigns are not violent, there are exceptions. The FBI has declared them to be domestic terrorists because they occasionally get into armed confrontations with law enforcement. A sovereign father and son, Jerry and Joseph Kane, were responsible for the 2010 murders of two West Memphis, Ark., police officers, during what should have been a routine traffic stop. Jerry Kane was a known figure within the sovereign movement, traveling the country to sell ideas on debt elimination and stopping foreclosure. His girlfriend, Donna Lee Wray, later made news by flooding Tampa's local government with paperwork when they wanted her to get a dog license.

‘Sovereign citizens’ plaster courts with bogus legal filings—and some turn to violence