"There are some of those folks that want to overthrow the government, period... this is how ISIS starts"
Sheriff Compares Constitutionalists to ISIS
by Mikael Thalen | Infowars.com | August 14, 2015
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich linked “rhetoric” from supporters of the U.S. Constitution to violent anti-government groups and ISIS this week in an exposé on the officer’s fight against “homegrown extremists.”
Artist’s rendition of Sheriff Knezovich standing on “Don’t Tread on Me” flag in August issue of the Inlander / Click to enlarge (Note: Knezovich uninvolved in cover choice)
In an article featured in the August 2015 edition of the Inlander, the Washington state sheriff draws comparisons to the ISIS terrorist group while railing against everyone from Infowars’ Alex Jones to Washington State Rep. Matthew Shea.
“There are some of those folks that want to overthrow the government, period. They want to hit a reset button,” Knezovich said. “If they’re willing to lie to get that reset button — this is how ISIS starts.”
The Inlander piece highlights the sheriff’s ongoing campaign against local conservative groups who he feels are pushing dangerous rhetoric. When asked to specifically name those responsible, Knezovich pointed to both Rep. Shea and “all those folks that created the video about the Deputy.”
Knezovich’s statement refers to exclusive footage released by Infowars last December which highlighted unsettling comments made by a Spokane sheriff’s deputy as he stood next to the department’s mine-resistant ambush protected military vehicle (MRAP). After a local resident approached and questioned law enforcement’s need for military hardware, the deputy immediately used “constitutionalists” with “firearms” as justification.
“I mean, we’ve got a lot of constitutionalists and a lot of people that stockpile weapons, lots of ammunition,” the deputy said. “They have weapons here locally.”
The video brought about an immediate backlash after receiving nationwide attention, causing Knezovich to accuse Infowars of “hatemongering” and taking the deputy’s comments out of context.
“Instead of apologizing for the comments made by his deputy, Sheriff Knezovich essentially blamed Infowars for daring to report on the issue, claiming that the quote was taken out of context while failing to explain how such a brazen statement could be taken for anything other than its face value,” noted Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson at the time.
Speaking with Infowars, Rep. Shea expressed outrage at Knezovich’s latest comments and also the article’s analysis on a local pastor.
“I fought Islamic terrorists on the ground in Iraq face-to-face,” Shea said. “I lost a man – who was a Christian and who would have fit the Sheriff’s definition of a constitutionalist – under my command fighting Islamic terrorists.”
“It is outrageous to compare constitutionalists and Christians to ISIS! We believe in freedom. We believe in liberty. A value set that is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. ISIS is anathema to those things. I call on every Christian and constitutionalist in this country to demand an apology from this Sheriff for his outrageous comments and demand his immediate resignation.”
Knezovich also went as far as to blame Infowars’ Alex Jones for a group of men who were arrested earlier this month for an alleged “murderous Jade Helm 15 retaliation plot.”
“This right here is all because of a bunch of words from Alex Jones,” Knezovich said. “Alex Jones started the Jade Helm fire. Words become reality.”
The sheriff pointed to the Bundy Ranch as well, accusing supporters of looking for a “trigger” to take on the government.
“There are people out there looking for that trigger,” he said. “They were praying that trigger would be at Bundy Ranch.”
A vocal supporter of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that similarly and falsely links law-abiding Americans to domestic extremism, Knezovich states that such groups are breeding a generation of Americans who distrust their government.
“You will not have a next generation to defend this country,” the sheriff said. “You will have all taught them to hate and distrust this nation.”
“Alex Jones makes a ton of money selling fear. Matt Shea is an elected official who gets elected selling fear.”
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich linked “rhetoric” from supporters of the U.S. Constitution to violent anti-government groups and ISIS this week in an exposé on the officer’s fight against “homegrown extremists.”
Speaking with Infowars, Rep. Shea expressed outrage at Knezovich’s latest comments and also the article’s analysis on a local pastor.
“This right here is all because of a bunch of words from Alex Jones,” Knezovich said.
The sheriff pointed to the Bundy Ranch as well, accusing supporters of looking for a “trigger” to take on the government.
“There are people out there looking for that trigger,” he said. “They were praying that trigger would be at Bundy Ranch.”
A vocal supporter of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that similarly and falsely links law-abiding Americans to domestic extremism, Knezovich states that such groups are breeding a generation of Americans who distrust their government.
a new factor could add to tensions in a racially charged environment: a group of four white men, voluntarily patrolling the streets with military-grade weaponry.
They call themselves the “Oath Keepers,” an organization of former military, police, and first responders, who seek to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."They wear bulletproof vests and communicate through two-way radios. They carry pistols attached to their hips as a secondary measure. Their primary tools are automatic assault rifles.
"I’m happy that we’re able to defend ourselves. It’s been our right for a long time," one member told NBC, speaking about the state’s open carry laws. Missouri allows licensed individuals to openly carry firearms, provided they’re not doing so in an "angry or threatening manner," though that caveat is certainly up for interpretation.
While they may consider themselves as defenders of freedom, others have a hard time seeing them as anything other than a right-wing militia fueled by a shared love of the Second Amendment. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, has described the group as a "fiercely anti-government, militaristic group."
"Their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory," St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said, according to Reuters.
Still, the question remains: who did send in the civilian cavalry?
The Oath Keepers made headlines last month when the group took it upon itself to guard military recruitment centers. Blaming the US government for failing to prevent a shooting which left four dead in Tennessee, the Oath Keepers took up arms before local authorities asked them, politely, to please stop.
It’s entirely possible that the organization’s emergence in Ferguson is a similar voluntary fashion. But according to [the leader of the group,someone] known only as John, the Oath Keepers were present to protect a journalist from conservative website Infowars.
"There were problems here, there were people who got hurt. We needed to be prepared for that," John said, according to Reuters.
Infowars has denied any affiliation with Oath Keepers.
"Despite the remark by ‘John,’ Infowars did not hire the Oath Keepers to protect its journalists reporting from the embattled Missouri city," reads a statement from the website. "The Oath Keepers went to Ferguson on their own without consulting with Infowars."
The website also claims that the allegations are an attempt by the mainstream media to link Infowars with extremist groups.
One reason I posted that is because it sounds like Infowars was not only distancing itself from any association with Oathkeepers in Ferguson then but was equating them to an extremist group; instead of to a grouping of Constitutionalist Patriots (which the Infowars video of last December in the Opening Post was supposedly concerned about because of interview statements made by Knezovich's Deputy).
Another reason for posting those comments, along with those by the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC-supporter, Sheriff Knezovich, etc., is that it all seems somewhat similar to the UK's shiftings away from Civic solidarity and beneficial community empowerments to more Police State measures, statist economics modus operandi and so on. Two forerunners of the gov-upsurge "revisings" there were the London area riots in 2011 and the alleged 2013 terror attack in Woolwich on a Military-based target (reportedly: soldier Lee Rigby), soon before Edward Snowden and the USA NSA became World News. Archiving some references on the UK's scrapping of it's Big Society pretenses for bigger Police State agendas of the ruling classes:
The stated aim was to create a climate that empowered local people and communities, building a "big society" that would take power away from politicians and give it to people.[6] In UK politics the Big Society concept applies to domestic policy in England only.
In March 2010, The Daily Telegraph wrote: "We demand vision from our would-be leaders, and here is one who offers a big one, of a society rebuilt from the ground up".[27] In April 2010 The Times described the Big Society as "an impressive attempt to reframe the role of government and unleash entrepreneurial spirit".[28]
During the course of the 2010–15 government the Big Society declined as an instrument of government policy. David Cameron did not use [the] term in public after 2013 and the phrase ceased to be used in government statements.[51]
A year after the riots in England ... amnesia has swept over our political class, and now it’s almost a case of “Riots? What riots?”.
But I fear there is more to it than that. For something rather odd started to happen, even as events were unrolling: we were told, [t]hese riots were [not] about race
... the political class and the mainstream media ... led by the Prime Minister, began an extraordinary exercise of what, with reference to George Orwell’s Newspeak, we might call New Sight. Firmly donning his magic spectacles, which rendered him unshakeably colour blind, David Cameron proclaimed the new truth: “It wasn’t race riots”.
He was echoed from the other end of the political spectrum by Max Wind-Cowie of the Leftish think-tank Demos, who asserted even more confidently: “This is not about race at all.”
The Prime Minister proclaimed the “moral collapse” of society. And Iain Duncan Smith declared the riots would be as important a turning point for the Cameron Government as 9/11 had been for Tony Blair.
4um Refs. for review of the 2013 UK Police State blitz:
Woolrich London Killing: Terrorism or False Flag? -- Posts #10 ... #11 [Prevent strategy] ... #20 ... + Sweden summit info at another Woolwich discussion.
You're right, i did not even notice the subtlety but now that you have pointed it out, it is clear as day and yet another reason i loath aj.
He didnt say that the oath keeprs are being mislabled or misrepresented. He didn't stand up for them at all but rather threw them under the bus.... and yet he still has fans and followers. I don't get it.
You're right, i did not even notice to subtlety but now that you have pointed it out, it is clear as day and yet another reason i loath aj.
He didnt say that they oath keeprs are being mislabled or misrepresented. He didn't stand up for them at all but rather threw them under the bus.... and yet he still has fans and followers. I don't get it.
The Infowars article at the opening post didn't mention Oath Keepers, so I wouldn't have noticed either without reading the foreign news-source reporting of the issues. Whether Infowars did or didn't intend to stereotype Oath Keeper Constitutionalists as an extremist group, it should clarify the matter promptly with an unambiguous address of explanation.