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SOVEREIGNty Intern'l

see Sovereign Citizen 2

see agenda 21, tea party, wise use, JBS, christian, militia

NO MERRI

see Henry Lamb ECO

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Sovereign_Individual

The Sovereign Individual - Wikipedia

The Sovereign Individual: How to survive and thrive during the collapse of the welfare state is a 1997 [a] non-fiction book by William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson, later republished on 26 August 1999 by Touchstone with the new subtitle Mastering the Transition to the Information Age.

June 20, 2023 

Tags: Leonard Leo Ron DeSantis Round-Up Seven Mountains Alliance Defending Freedom Moms for Liberty Proud Boys

2021

guk no lnx

How the far-right group ‘Oath Enforcers’ plans to harass political enemies

This article is more than 5 months old

Chats indicate white supremacists are aiming to leverage the group’s success in recruiting disillusioned supporters of former President Donald Trump and the ‘QAnon’ conspiracy movement.

Revealed: online chats indicate some members are threatening to unleash harassment tactics on officials and government workers

Jason Wilson

@jason_a_w

Tue 6 Apr 2021 02.00 EDT

A national online network of thousands of rightwing, self-described “Oath Enforcers” is threatening to unleash harassment tactics on elected officials and government workers around the country, the Guardian can reveal.

While the network’s founder insists that the group is neither violent nor a militia, internal chats indicate that some members are planning for confrontations with law enforcement and their perceived political enemies.

The chats also indicate that white supremacists and others connected with the militia movement are aiming to leverage the group’s success in recruiting disillusioned supporters of Donald Trump and the “QAnon” conspiracy movement, who are being exposed to a wide range of conspiracy theories, white nationalist material and rightwing legal theories inside the groups.

The group’s founder, who makes videos and organizes under the name Vince Edwards, lives off-grid in a remote corner of Costilla county, in Colorado’s high desert region. Arrest records from 2016 indicate that he has also used the name Christian Picolo, and other public records associate him with the name Vincent Edward Deluca.

Experts say that Edwards’ personal history reflects the potential danger in the spread of “sovereign citizen” ideology– along with voluminous online propaganda, that history includes an armed standoff with Costilla county sheriff’s deputies in 2016.

Edwards initially published videos and a printable flyer promoting the formation of “oath enforcement teams” of at least 30 people in every county in the nation during late January 2021, just weeks after his own self-documented attendance at a rally at the national Capitol on 6 January.

His initial videos explicitly appealed to QAnon supporters, pointing out that “Q”, the supposed Trump administration insider whose gnomic forum posts animated the conspiracy-minded social movement, had not communicated with the movement since December, and that rather than “trusting the plan”, as adherents are enjoined to do, they should begin taking action.

In the wake of the Capitol attack, his efforts seem to have resonated with a growing pool of grassroots rightwingers. The Guardian found over 3,100 members in 50 state-based Telegram chats and a national chat. Some state-based groups – in Texas, Washington and Alabama – were very active and had hundreds of members.

The stated aims of the group include posting flyers designed by Edwards, the formation of “constitutional enforcement groups”, for every person to hand out 1,000 of Edwards’s flyers, and the creation of local hotlines to help “enforce the contract we made with our public servants” by livestreaming interactions with them, or lodging spurious legal claims against them.

In an introductory video entitled “OE training”, Edwards encourages new recruits to the network to emulate so-called “first amendment auditors” (FAAs).

Professor Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at California State University in San Bernardino, said in a telephone conversation that FAAs are a social-media driven movement of libertarian provocateurs who “go to sensitive locations to see if law enforcement, security guards, or property owners will interfere with their activities, which are annoying, but not usually illegal”.

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch in Bunkerville, Nev. Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon refuge occupation, and who was the center of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland on Wednesday night, Feb. 10, the FBI said, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

[

They hate the US government, and they're multiplying: the terrifying rise of 'sovereign citizens'

Read more]

Meanwhile, some local groups show that well-known extremists are seeing opportunities in the group’s fast growth.

The Oregon Oath Enforcers group, for example, was joined on 5 February by Chester Doles of Dahlonega, Georgia. Doles, a long-time former member of the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi National Alliance, who was imprisoned in 1993 for beating a black man, and later marched in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

Doles received media attention recently as he and other members of the organization he currently leads, American Patriots USA, were among an armed crowd which protested outside the Georgia capitol on 6 January, an action which led Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who had been demonized by the far right for his role in Georgia’s election count, to flee the building.

In recent months, Doles has reportedly been seeking to build alliances with Three Percenters and other militia organizations in Georgia.

A former member of far-right group Patriot Prayer, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, joined the Oregon Oath Enforcers chat on 9 February. Toese, a Proud Boy, was a prominent and frequently violent participant in a long string of brawling, contentious street protests in Portland throughout the Trump era. He was jailed in Clark county, Washington, last October after violating the condition of his probation after earlier being convicted for assault over an unprovoked daylight attack on a man in Portland.

In a video message to the Oath Enforcers group, Toese said: “You guys organizing? Me and my people will be there to take a stand with you.”

Tusitala ‘Tiny’ Toese (front) at a rally in Portland in 2018.]

Elsewhere in the Oath Enforcers’ instructional Telegram channel, Edwards and others have shared documents from a range of organizations around the country which promote false legal and constitutional doctrines associated with the so-called sovereign citizen movement.

One document is presented as a judgment by a self-styled human rights tribunal, with an arrest order for a range of officials and philanthropists, including Anthony Fauci and Bill and Melinda Gates, for the crime of genocide.

The sovereign citizen movement does not hold a universally consistent set of beliefs, but most adherents believe in a false alternative history of the US, and that the present, and especially the law, reflects a conspiracy ordered by esoteric rules. Many treat all legal and governmental authority as illegitimate.

In the Oath Enforcers’ chats, sovereign doctrine is presented side by side with false beliefs about vaccinations and masks, assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and conspiracy theories about links between anti-fascist activists and powerful figures such as the billionaire George Soros.

Vince Edwards and Chester Doles did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In intelligence assessments and public statements, federal agencies have advised that sovereign citizens pose an ongoing and specific threat to law enforcement officers.

Levin, the extremism researcher, said of the apparent synergies between sovereign citizens and white supremacists that “there has been a realignment on the far-right extremist fringe”, wherein “law enforcement is viewed as an arm of a tyrannical government in much the same way that sovereign citizens viewed them decades prior”.

Levin adds that “not only is the ideology getting a rebranding, so too are many far-right figures like former Klan leader Chester Doles”.

In a 28 March post on the Oregon Oath Enforcers page, a user reposted the white nationalist broadcaster Vincent James’s commentary on a clash between antifa and far-right street protesters in Salem the previous day.

In part, the post read: “Cops never were and never will be your friend. They’re also the American regime. Not allies.”

GOD TERM

pattern, minority ppl w/o power thrown under the bus for ideological purity (usually women eg domestic viol bill b/c of gun control)

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/29/headlines/at_nra_convention_trump_ends_ratification_process_for_arms_treaty

Indianapolis, President Trump told the annual convention of the National Rifle Association on Friday he’s seeking to cancel U.S. support for the Arms Trade Treaty, an international agreement that limits weapons sales that fuel destructive conflicts. During his annual address to the NRA, Trump signed a document asking the Senate to reject ratification of the treaty.

President Donald Trump: “This treaty threatened your subjugate—and you know exactly what’s going on here—your rights and your constitutional and international rules and restrictions and regulations. Under my administration, we willnever surrender American sovereignty to anyone.”

==

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/

...aCCORDING TO THE Counterterrorism Policy Guide, the FBI has the option to mark a watchlisted police officer as a “silent hit,” thus preventing queries to the National Crime Information Center, a clearinghouse for crime data accessible to law enforcement agencies nationwide, from returning a record that identifies the officer as having been flagged as a known or suspected terrorist.

The document states that a “specific, narrowly defined, and legitimate operational justification” must be given in order to mark a Known or Suspected Terrorist (KST) entry as a silent hit. The suspect’s membership or affiliation with a law enforcement or military agency with access to the NCIC database is one of the specific justifications listed, implying that extremist infiltration is enough of a concern that the FBI has built-in protocols to prevent domestic terrorism investigations from being obstructed by members of law enforcement.

The FBI document also notes that in order to protect the safety of local law enforcement, suspects who are “violent or are known to be armed and dangerous” may not be marked as silent hits. It’s unclear how that standard applies to armed law enforcement personnel, especially since the FBI document singles out not only white supremacist groups for their ties to law enforcement, but also militia extremists and sovereign citizen extremists. While there is plenty of overlap between them, the last group, in particular, is characterized by deep anti-government ideology and the belief that “even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States,” the FBI notes on its website. “As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.”

In a 2011 article, the FBI’s counterterrorism analysis section calledsovereign citizens “a growing domestic threat to law enforcement.” In one 2010 incident, two Arkansas police officers were killed when 16-year-old sovereign citizen Joseph Kane fired on them with an AK-47 assault rifle after he and his father were pulled over for a routine stop.

A 2014 survey found that sovereign citizen extremists were perceived by law enforcement agencies as a top threat, ahead of foreign-inspired extremists. And a 2015 DHS intelligence assessment, written in coordination with the FBI, warned about the continuing threat sovereign citizen extremists pose to police officers.

The counterterrorism guide does not specify the conditions under which the FBI will notify local law enforcement agencies whose members may be under surveillance as silent hits. Michael German, a former FBI agent who specialized in domestic terrorism investigations, told The Intercept that such alerts are likely handled on a “case-by-case basis.” “Typically, if someone in the police department is suspect, unless it’s an extreme case of leadership, professional courtesy requires some sort of notification,” he said.

...

==

mojo wingnuts

Sovereignty International Inc.

Property-rights group Sovereignty International Inc. (SII) is a leading promoter of United Nations paranoia, claiming that environmental regulations are part of a plot to establish a "one world government" -- a theme echoed by militia groups nationwide. SII was founded by ECO's Henry Lamb; the American Sheep Industry Association's Tom McDonnell, who has collaborated with LaRouche propagandist Rogelio Maduro to attack U.N. biodiversity programs; and Dr. Michael Coffman, who did a speaking tour this summer sponsored by the John Birch Society. His topic: The U.N.-corporate-environmentalist conspiracy to seize control of private land in America, hand it over to wild animals, and herd all the humans into crowded communities. SII's Web site consists of a single malfunctioning page on the server of Liberty Matters, a property-rights project. Funded by: Unknown.

==

eg

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/fear-and-loathing-montana

===

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American and Canadian litigants, commentators, tax protesters and financial-scheme promoters. Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state or municipal levels;[1]

that they do not recognize United States currency; and/or that they are "free of any legal constraints."[2][3][4] They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate.[5] Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens," who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.[6] It is similar in doctrines to the freemen on the land movement, more commonly found in Britain and Canada.[7][8][9][10]

Many members of the sovereign citizen movement believe that the United States government is illegitimate.[11] JJ MacNab, who writes for Forbes about anti-government extremism, describes the sovereign citizen movement as consisting of individuals who believe that the County Sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, elected official or local law-enforcement official.[12] This belief comes from the movement's origins in the racist Posse Comitatus movement.[citation needed]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies some sovereign citizens ("sovereign citizen extremists") as domestic terrorists.[13] In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers," with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."[14]

According to a 2014 report by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a survey of law-enforcement officials and agencies across the United States concluded that the movement was the single greatest threat to their communities, ranking above Islamic terrorists and jihadists.[15][16][17] Sovereign citizens have also been identified as a potential terrorist threat by the New South Wales Police Force in Australia.[18]

Contents

Theories

Writing in American Scientific Affiliation, Dennis L. Feucht reviews American Militias: Rebellion, Racism & Religion by Richard Abanes, and describes the theory of a sovereign-citizen leader Richard McDonald, which is that there are two classes of citizens in America: the "original citizens of the states" (or "States citizens") and "U.S. citizens". McDonald asserts that U.S. citizens or "Fourteenth Amendment citizens" have civil rights,

Legislated to give the freed black slaves after the Civil War rights comparable to the unalienable constitutional rights of white state citizens. The benefits of U.S. citizenship are received by consent in exchange for freedom. State citizens consequently take steps to revoke and rescind their U.S. citizenship and reassert their de jure common-law state citizen status. This involves removing one's self from federal jurisdiction and relinquishing any evidence of consent to U.S. citizenship, such as a Social Security number, driver's license, car registration, use of ZIP codes, marriage license, voter registration, and birth certificate. Also included is refusal to pay state and federal income taxes because citizens not under U.S. jurisdiction are not required to pay them. Only residents (resident aliens) of the states, not its citizens, are income-taxable, state citizens argue. And as a state citizen land owner, one can bring forward the original land patent and file it with the county for absolute or allodial property rights. Such allodial ownership is held "without recognizing any superior to whom any duty is due on account thereof" (Black's Law Dictionary). Superiors include those who levy property taxes or who hold mortgages or liens against the property.[19]

In support of his theories, McDonald has established State Citizen Service Centers around the United States as well as a related web presence.[20]

Writer Richard Abanes asserts that sovereign citizens fail to sufficiently examine the context of the case laws they cite, and ignore adverse evidence, such as Federalist No. 15, where Alexander Hamilton expressed the view that the Constitution placed everyone personally under federal authority.[19]

Some "sovereign citizens" also claim that they can become immune to most or all laws of the USA by renouncing their citizenship, a process they refer to as "expatriation", which involves filing or delivering a bogus legal document to whichever county clerk's office they can get to accept it.[21]

History

The concept of a sovereign citizen originated in the Posse Comitatus movement as a teaching of Christian Identity minister William P. Gale. The concept has influenced the tax protester movement, the Christian Patriot movement, and the redemption movement—the last of which claims that the U.S. government uses its citizens as collateral against foreign debt.[6]

Gale identified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as the act that converted sovereign citizens into federal citizens by their agreement to a contract to accept benefits from the federal government. Other commentators have identified other acts, including the Uniform Commercial Code,[22] the Emergency Banking Act,[22] the Zone Improvement Plan,[23] and the alleged suppression of the Titles of Nobility Amendment.[24]

Some of those in the movement believe that the term "sovereign citizen" is an oxymoron and prefer to label themselves as individuals "seeking the Truth".[25]

Legal status of theories

Variations of the argument that an individual is not subject to various laws because the individual is "sovereign" have been rejected by the courts, especially in tax cases such as Johnson v. Commissioner (Phyllis Johnson's argument—that she was not subject to the federal income tax because she was an "individual sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the Court),[26] Wikoff v. Commissioner (argument by Austin Wikoff—that he was not subject to the federal income tax because he was an "individual sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the Court),[27] United States v. Hart (Douglas Hart's argument—in response to a lawsuit against him for filing false lien notices against IRS personnel, that the U.S. District Court had no jurisdiction over him because he was a "sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit),[28] Young v. Internal Revenue Serv. (Jerry Young's argument—that the Internal Revenue Code did not pertain to him because he was a "sovereign citizen"—was rejected by the U.S. District Court),[29] and Stoecklin v. Commissioner (Kenneth Stoecklin's argument—that he was a "freeborn and sovereign" person and was therefore not subject to the income tax laws—was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; The court imposed $3,000 penalty on Stoecklin for filing a frivolous appeal).[30]

...

Incidents

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, who was convicted in 2004, was a member of the sovereign citizen movement, having asserted individual sovereignty in at least three court cases.[46]

2010

In May 2010, two police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas were shot and killed by Joseph T. Kane after Kane and his father were the subject of a traffic stop. Kane and his father were later identified as members of the sovereign citizen movement.[47][48]

In September 2010, David Russell Myrland, an associate of a sovereign citizens group, sent emails and placed telephone calls to various officials of the City of Kirkland, Washington, telling them to "keep their doors unlocked", that they were going to be arrested, and that they "should not resist".[49] Myrland also reportedly threatened federal judges and the chief prosecutor of King County, Washington.[50] Myrland's threat to arrest the mayor of Kirkland came about after he was arrested by police. His vehicle had been impounded after he was found driving with a suspended license and expired vehicle-license tabs. An unloaded gun with ammunition nearby had been found on the seat of the car.[51] Although he was not a law enforcement officer, Myrland had claimed that he had the authority to form a group of private citizens to arrest felons in public office "as permitted by RCW 9A.16.020"[51] (the state statute governing lawful use of force).[52] On December 2, 2011, Myrland was sentenced to three years and four months in federal prison after pleading guilty in connection with the threats he made, including the threat to forcibly arrest the mayor of Kirkland, Washington.[49] Myrland was released from prison on January 29, 2014.[53]

2011

In March 2011, a central figure in the sovereign citizen movement named Samuel Lynn Davis pleaded guilty to 31 counts of money laundering in Federal district court in Nevada. Davis was snared in a sting operation after he agreed to launder more than $1.29 million in what he believed to be illicit funds. Davis accepted $73,782 in fees to launder the money, not realizing he was dealing with federal law enforcement agents.[54] In October 2011, Davis was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison, and was ordered to pay over $95,000 in restitution.[55][56] As of late July 2012, Davis was classified as a fugitive, having failed to surrender to authorities to begin his prison sentence in June 2012.[57] On August 7, 2012, Davis was arrested by sheriff's deputies in White Earth, North Dakota.[58] Davis is inmate # 43741-048 at the La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution at Anthony, Texas near El Paso, and is scheduled for release on April 24, 2017.[59]

In September 2011, Edward and Elaine Brown, serving long federal prison sentences for various crimes, were identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as being members of the sovereign citizen movement.[60]

On November 4, 2011, a federal jury in Montgomery, Alabama found Monty Ervin guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion. His wife Patricia Ervin was also found guilty of various related charges. According to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice, Ervin and his wife had acquired hundreds of investment properties over a ten-year period, had received more than $9 million in rental income, but had paid nothing in federal income taxes. The Ervins reportedly claimed that they were not United States citizens, that they were "sovereigns," and that they did not consider themselves subject to federal or state law. Ervin and his wife had also filed documents in probate court attempting to renounce their U.S. citizenship. In one filing, Ervin declared himself to be the governor of Alabama in its "original jurisdiction."[61] On May 29, 2012, Monty Ervin was sentenced to ten years in prison, and Patricia Ervin was sentenced to five years of probation, with the condition that she spend 40 consecutive weekends in jail.[62]

In December 2011, Shawn Talbot Rice was arrested at his home at Seligman, Arizona, after a ten-hour standoff with FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel.[63] On July 24, 2012, Rice was found guilty in federal court in Nevada in connection with the same money-laundering scheme that resulted in the conviction of Samuel Lynn Davis. The guilty verdicts came on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, thirteen counts of money laundering, and four counts of failure to appear in court in connection with time that Rice spent as a fugitive. Rice, who had also falsely claimed to be a lawyer and a rabbi, was described as "a leader in the anti-government 'sovereign citizens' movement."[57] During the trial, Rice tried to argue that the presiding federal judge had no authority to render a judgment against Rice.[64] On March 20, 2013, Rice was sentenced to 8 years and 2 months in prison, and was ordered to forfeit over $1.29 million.[65] As of early June 2014, Rice is incarcerated at the Florence Federal Correctional Institution at Florence, Colorado, and is scheduled for release on October 9, 2020.[66]

2012

On February 1, 2012, Timothy Garrison, an accountant from Mount Vernon, Washington was sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison after having pled guilty to tax fraud. He admitted to having filed about 50 falsified tax returns. Federal prosecutors contended that Garrison's actions cost the Internal Revenue Service over 2.4 million dollars in tax revenues. Prosecutors also stated that the sixty-year-old accountant had described himself as a "sovereign citizen" beyond the reach of state and federal law. Garrison had previously served time in federal prison in the 1980s in connection with fraud against investors in a cattle ranch.[67] Garrison was released from Federal prison on July 16, 2014.[68]

On June 18, 2012, Francis August Schaeffer Cox, who had asserted that he was a sovereign citizen, was found guilty in the United States District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, of several felony charges including conspiracy to commit murder.[69][70] On January 8, 2013, Cox was sentenced to 25 years and 10 months in prison.[71]

On June 20, 2012, Anson Chi was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly trying to blow up a natural gas pipe line in a residential area of Plano, Texas.[72] On June 3, 2013, Chi pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to destroy a natural gas pipeline used in interstate commerce, and to a charge of possessing an explosive device not registered with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.[73] However, on February 26, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order granting Chi's motion to withdraw his guilty plea.[74] Eventually, he again pleaded guilty and, on June 11, 2015, he was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for possession of an unregistered firearm and for malicious use of an explosive.[75]

On July 19, 2012, Martin Jonassen, who had described himself as a sovereign citizen, was found guilty by a jury in an Indiana federal court of kidnapping his 21-year-old daughter, whom he allegedly had sexually abused, and of obstruction of justice.[76] During the incident, the daughter escaped from a hotel room where Jonassen had been holding her, ran naked into a store and begged for help. Jonassen was caught on surveillance footage chasing her, dragging her out of the store and pushing her into his car.[77] The daughter reportedly "had never been to school and only read books about religion, history and the government approved by her father." She had seen a doctor only once in her life.[78] On February 19, 2013, Jonassen was sentenced to forty years in federal prison.[79] Jonassen is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Tucson, Arizona, and is scheduled for release on August 10, 2047.[80]

On August 16, 2012, two sheriff's deputies were shot to death and two others seriously wounded after having been ambushed near LaPlace, Louisiana. Authorities arrested seven suspects, two of whom have been identified by law enforcement as members of a sovereign citizen's group.[81]

On August 27, 2012, Lonnie G. Vernon and Karen Vernon, an Alaska couple who were described as "followers of Schaeffer Cox", pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder of U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, who presided over a federal income tax case based on sovereign-citizen theories which had cost the Vernons their house. They also admitted that they had planned to kill Beistline's daughter and grandchildren, and an Internal Revenue Service official. The Vernons bought a silencer-equipped pistol and hand grenades in March 2011; but the seller to whom they disclosed their plans was a confidential informant, and the Vernons were arrested as soon as the transaction had been consummated.[82] At the sentencing hearing on January 7, 2013, Lonnie Vernon continued to assert that he was denying the authority of the court, the judge and the prosecutors. Karen Vernon was sentenced to 12 years in prison.[83] Lonnie Vernon was sentenced to over 25 years in prison.[84] Lonnie Vernon is incarcerated at a Federal prison facility at Terre Haute, Indiana, and is scheduled for release on October 26, 2033.[85] Karen Vernon is incarcerated at a Federal prison facility at Waseca, Minnesota, and is scheduled for release on September 4, 2021.[86]

On September 10, 2012, David B. Graham of Gwinnett County, Georgia pled guilty to violation of the Georgia racketeering statute. After losing his home in a foreclosure, he moved back into the home and filed a fraudulent quitclaim deed in the county property records in an attempt to transfer the ownership of the home back to himself. He was one of approximately a dozen so-called "sovereign citizens" who had been indicted on racketeering charges "for essentially stealing 18 high-end homes in eight counties...."[87] At the hearing, Graham's attorney disclosed to the Court that Graham had been "influenced by the sovereign citizen group – individuals who believe that they each make up their own sovereign state or nationality, and are thus immune to federal, state and local laws...."[88]

On September 18, 2012, James Timothy ("Tim") Turner was arrested after having been indicted by a federal grand jury in Alabama on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371 by, among other things, allegedly filing a false 300 million dollar bond in an attempt to pay taxes, one count of passing a false 300 million dollar bond, five additional counts of violations of section 514(a)(2) of title 18 of the U.S.C. (relating to fictitious documents), one count of filing false Form 1096 reports with the Internal Revenue Service, one count of willful failure to file a federal income tax return, and one count of giving false testimony in a federal bankruptcy proceeding. Turner had described himself as the "president" of a sovereign citizens group called the "Republic for the United States of America".[89][90][91][92] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Turner had also been involved with the Guardians of the Free Republics organization.[93] On March 22, 2013, Turner was found guilty on all charges. On July 31, 2013, he was sentenced to 18 years in Federal prison.[94][95] He is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Marion, Illinois, and is scheduled for release in May 2028.[96]

On September 27, 2012, 71-year-old Phillip Monroe Ballard, who at the time was being held in Federal custody in Fort Worth, Texas, facing a trial on federal tax charges scheduled to begin on October 1, 2012, was charged with offering $100,000 in a plot to kill U.S. District Judge John McBryde, the judge who was scheduled to preside over the trial. Federal authorities alleged that Ballard gave a fellow inmate detailed instructions to kill Judge McBryde with a high-powered rifle from a building across the street from the federal courthouse. Ballard allegedly said the killer could shoot the judge as he entered the courthouse. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also alleged that Ballard had a back up plan to have his accomplice plant a bomb in the judge's vehicle. Ballard's tax trial did not begin on Monday, October 1. Instead, Ballard appeared for a preliminary hearing on the murder solicitation charge on that day. The investigation reportedly had begun a few weeks earlier, following a tip from a fellow inmate. Ballard, who claimed to be a "sovereign citizen" immune from all U.S. laws, was convicted in 1987 of a federal tax charge in connection with his seizure by force of a Mercedes automobile that was subject to a federal tax lien.[97][98] In 2011, Ballard was also charged with falsely holding himself out as an attorney.[99] On December 11, 2013, Ballard was found guilty of attempting to hire a hit man to kill the federal judge. On March 17, 2014, Ballard was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison for the solicitation to commit murder conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 373.[100][101] Ballard had been awaiting trial on one count of corrupt interference with the U.S. internal revenue laws under 26 U.S.C. § 7212 and six counts of aiding and assisting in preparation of false and fraudulent U.S. federal income tax returns under 26 U.S.C. § 7206. Those charges were dropped, however, after Ballard's sentencing in the murder solicitation case.[102] Ballard is scheduled for release in December 2029.[103]

On December 11, 2012, Jeniffer Herring of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina allegedly led officers on a chase of up to 70 miles per hour while she was talking by cell phone to a 911 dispatcher as she allegedly refused to stop for the police who were trying to apprehend her. According to a news release from the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office, Herring told 911 dispatchers she would pull over for deputies for $300,000.[104] A law enforcement official indicated that Herring was a member of the "sovereign citizen" movement. Herring eventually was stopped, and was charged with driving while intoxicated, felony flight to elude arrest, driving with a revoked driver license, reckless driving, and driving left of center. Herring also faces a separate charge for failure to appear in court in another case involving a charge of driving while intoxicated.[105] On January 28, 2013, she was indicted by a grand jury.[106]

On December 29, 2012, dentist Glenn Richard Unger, alias "Dr. Sam Kennedy," was arrested in Ogdensburg, New York, after having been indicted by a federal grand jury ten days earlier, on one count of attempting to interfere with the administration of the internal revenue laws under Internal Revenue Code section 7212(a), four counts of filing false claims for tax refunds under 18 USC section 287, one count of tax evasion under Internal Revenue Code section 7201, and one count of uttering a fictitious obligation under 18 USC section 514(a)(2). He was charged with filing more than $36 million in fraudulent federal income tax refund claims. On January 2, 2013, a federal prosecutor asserted in a court hearing for Unger that Unger was a danger to the community and that Unger had stated that he would rather die than become subject to the government. Unger has been identified as a leader of the sovereign citizen movement. The indictment alleged, among other things, that in June 2011 Unger submitted false documents with the Clerk's Office of Saratoga County, New York, in an attempt to release a $116,410.43 federal tax lien against him, for taxes and penalties for years 2004, 2005, and 2006.[93][107][108] The Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking at Unger in the spring of 2010, in connection with the now-defunct group called the Guardians of the Free Republics, when the FBI was investigating letters that had been sent by that group to the governors of all fifty states, demanding that all governors resign within three days. Prosecutors also alleged that Unger filed no valid federal income tax returns between 1999 and 2005. On May 23, 2013, the court ordered a mental competency hearing for Unger after he referred to himself as being "deceased."[109] On August 7, 2013, the Court ruled that Unger was competent to stand trial.[110] After a four-day trial Unger was found guilty of all charges by a jury in Federal court in Albany, New York, on October 21, 2013.[111] Evidence in the case also indicated that Unger left his dental business in 2006, and referred about eighty of his patients to an orthodontist, William O'Donnell, without telling O'Donnell that the patients had already pre-paid Unger for dental work. After O'Donnell complained to Unger that the customers were expecting O'Donnell to perform the work, Unger reportedly gave O'Donnell a bogus promissory note that O'Donnell could supposedly use to obtain funds from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. When O'Donnell tried to deposit the note at a bank, he found the note to be fictitious and worthless. On April 21, 2014, Unger was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.[112] Unger is incarcerated at a Federal prison facility at Allenwood, Pennsylvania, and is scheduled for release on February 6, 2020.[113]

2013

In May 2013, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, issued its Annual Business Report for Fiscal Year 2012 (for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012). Within the "Narcotics and Counterterrorism" section of the report, in a portion entitled "Sovereign Citizens", the IRS mentions the convictions of Monty and Patricia Ervin, Timothy Garrison and David Russell Myrland.[114] In the report, the IRS states: "During 2012, CI [the Criminal Investigation division of the IRS] found a re-emergence of individuals and/or entities who proclaimed themselves Sovereign Citizens. Generally, they utilized anti-government or anti-tax rhetoric schemes to disrupt the tax administration process. CI has partnered with Department of Justice and Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration to create a working group to address this emerging threat."[88]

On June 14, 2013, Raymond Leo Jarlik Bell was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to 8 years and one month in prison after having been convicted of five counts of filing false, fictitious, and fraudulent claims; 15 counts of assisting in filing false U.S. federal tax returns, three counts of mail fraud; and one count of criminal contempt. Bell and his wife Ute Christine Jarlik Bell (who was also convicted) were identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as being members of the "Sovereign Citizen" movement. In a news media release, U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan stated that Bell had "held himself out as a tax expert with contacts at the IRS—when both the IRS and a federal judge told him repeatedly that his conduct was criminal..." Durkan stated that Bell believed he was above the law and that Bell had promoted a fraudulent tax refund scheme known as "OID fraud." Bell's wife, Ute Christine Jarlik Bell, was convicted of four counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims.[115]

On August 22, 2013, David Allen Brutsche and Devon Campbell Newman were arrested for plotting to abduct, torture and kill Las Vegas police officers in order to attract attention to the sovereign citizens movement. They reportedly attended sovereign citizen philosophy training sessions, bought guns, and found a vacant house for their activities. The two allegedly planned to torture and kill police officers[116] and are alleged to have created videos explaining their actions and why officers had to die.[117] On December 12, 2013, Devon Newman pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, and was sentenced to one year of probation. The trial for Brutsche was scheduled to begin March 10, 2014[118] but, on February 3, 2014, Brutsche pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap a police officer.[119] On April 7, 2014, he was sentenced to five years probation.[120]

In November 2013, Robert Carr seized eleven Ohio homes while their owners were away and filed quiet title suits to the properties.[121] The grand jury later indicted him on felony charges of breaking and entering, and theft.[122] Carr was sentenced to seven months in prison.[123]

2014

On January 9, 2014, sixty-seven-year-old Sharon Alicia Anzaldi of Elmwood Park, Illinois was sentenced in federal court to five years in prison for filing fraudulent tax returns. She filed false returns for herself, family and friends, and had claimed tax refunds of over $8 million. She had tried to have her case dismissed on various grounds, including the theory that, although she was a citizen of Illinois, she was not subject to federal criminal law. The U.S. District Court ruled against her arguments. Anzaldi was also ordered to pay over $851,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.[124] Anzaldi is currently an inmate at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at Lexington, Kentucky, and is scheduled for release on September 19, 2018.[125]

On February 13, 2014, a former chiropractor named John A. Glavin of New Lisbon, Wisconsin was sentenced in Federal district court in Wisconsin to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Glavin was found guilty of filing fraudulent federal income tax refund claims of over $956,000. When the Internal Revenue Service investigated his false tax refund claims, Glavin filed false liens against IRS personnel and against the Secretary of the Treasury. In addition to his federal tax problems, Glavin had problems under the laws of the State of Wisconsin by using a "Sovereign Citizens Movement" scheme in connection with a bank foreclosure of his home. While still awaiting trial on the federal charges of filing the false tax refund claims, Glavin sent false promissory notes to the bank. He claimed that the U.S. Treasury would pay off his home mortgage. As a result of that scheme, Glavin was sentenced in a Juneau County Court in Wisconsin to 90 days in jail for fraud. In the Juneau County Court, Glavin was ordered to pay restitution of over $44,000 to the bank and to refrain from filing "sovereign citizen" paperwork in any court. The judge in the Juneau County Court stated, "The sovereign citizen theory is foolish....It is legal nonsense and frivolous."[126] Glavin is incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Rochester, at Rochester, Minnesota, and is scheduled for release on June 11, 2016.[127]

In March 2014, after Cliven Bundy lost a second U.S. District Court case in a 20-year court battle, he sent letters entitled "Range War Emergency Notice and Demand for Protection" to county, state, and federal officials. In his court filings, depositions, and subsequent statements, he said he does not recognize the US Government because he is a citizen of the State of Nevada.[128]In media interviews, Bundy used the language of the sovereign citizen movement[129] as a rallying call, beckoning support [129] from members of the Oath Keepers,[129] the White Mountain Militia,[129] the Praetorian Guard,[129] and other like-minded individuals to join his Bundy militia[130][131][132][133] in a fight against the US Government.[129] Armed militants from Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, California, and other areas responded with a show of force[134] by joining the Bundy militia[129][132][135] at a heavily armed militia camp near Bunkerville, Nevada in early April 2014. Approximately 1000 militia members and supporters joined the fight.[136] On April 12, 2014, and consistent with the sovereign citizen credo and without success, Bundy ordered Sheriff Gillespie to confront the federal agents, disarm them and deliver their arms to them within an hour of his declaration.[12][137]

In April 2014, Mark Manuel, of Franklin, Tennessee, who set up a consultancy business claiming to be able to remove debts by accessing secret government bank accounts, was convicted with two associates on eight counts of mail fraud. In a press release, the FBI stated that, "the men defrauded hundreds of thousands of dollars from more than 250 victims. Witnesses testified that the men encouraged customers to seek cash advances from credit cards and to raid retirement accounts in order to pay Eden Gifted Properties’ fees."[138]

On June 6, 2014, Dennis Marx, who was later identified as being a member of the sovereign citizens movement, opened fire on a Forsyth County, Georgia courthouse, injuring one deputy before being shot and killed himself.[139] Marx had become involved in a dispute with sheriff’s deputies in 2011. He had been arrested on marijuana and weapons possession charges. As a result, Marx sued the sheriff’s department for alleged civil rights violations and use of excessive force. The Southern Poverty Law Center asserts that in the suit, Marx filed documents using the pseudo-legal language common to "sovereign citizen" court actions.[140][141] On the day of the incident, Marx had been scheduled to enter a plea at the courthouse in connection with the year 2011 arrest that had resulted in his lawsuit.[142]

On June 18, 2014, Cherron Phillips (who sometimes calls herself "River Tali El Bey")[143] was found guilty by a Federal court jury in Chicago on ten counts of retaliatory filing of false claims, including 100 billion dollars in false lien notices, against various government officials, apparently in connection with her brother's conviction on drug conspiracy charges in 2008.[143] Even as the jury was deliberating her own case, Phillips had claimed that the court had no jurisdiction over her. After the guilty verdict was announced, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Reagan referred to her as a "paper terrorist," and the United States Marshal took her into custody. On October 14, 2014, she was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.[144] Phillips is a resident of the Federal Correctional Institution at Waseca, Minnesota, and is scheduled for release on August 20, 2020.[145]

2015

Already in prison since January 2007 for failure to pay federal taxes, for structuring various bank transactions to evade reporting requirements, and for attempting to obstruct administration of the U.S. internal revenue laws, Young Earth Creationist and Sovereign Citizen proponent Kent Hovind had a raft of new charges laid against him for the filing of lis pendens liens on property deemed forfeited to pay for earlier unpaid taxes.[146] The government argued that the filing of these liens had been earlier forbidden by a court. During his incarceration, Hovind relied increasingly on Sovereign Citizen arguments, denying his U.S Citizenship and declaring "Democracy is evil and contrary to God's law". Hovind's co-defendant was Paul J. Hansen, another Sovereign Citizen advocate. In filings before the court relating to the trial, both made lengthy submissions recycling typical Sovereign Citizen tropes, such as "withdrawing consent for the proceedings", denial of jurisdiction, invocation of maritime law, the attempted convocation of unsanctioned citizen grand juries, and which threatened the judge personally.[147][148] While the jury failed to reach a verdict on the other charges, on March 12, 2015, Hovind was found guilty of criminal contempt.[149] The judge, however, rendered a judgment of acquittal in favor of Hovind on May 18, 2015, concluding that the relevant court order had lacked specific language prohibiting Hovind from doing what he did.[150] Hansen, who claims he is neither a U.S. citizen nor resident because he lives on "church land", was convicted on two counts of contempt and sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years probation of August 21, 2015.[151]

In January 2015, Ishaq Ibrahim, 28, of Philadelphia was convicted in a court in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, of multiple counts of conspiracy and robbery after defending himself using sovereign citizen arguments. Ibrahim, charged with bank robbery,[152] repeatedly questioned the validity of the proceedings and the jurisdiction of the judge during the trial, and asserted he did not consent to the proceedings. Ibrahim initially represented himself at the trial, but after he became disruptive and was removed from the courtroom, the judge appointed lawyers to represent him. Ibrahim then monitored the trial via video from another room.[153]

In Miami, Florida in 2015, forty-year old E-Yage Bowens was sentenced to 485 years in prison for repeatedly raping a sixteen year old girl and forcing her to cut herself. Bowens claimed to be a "sovereign citizen," and to be immune from U.S. laws.[154]

In the media

"Public Enemy", an episode of the crime drama television program *The Glades* first broadcast July 15, 2012, depicted the sovereign citizen movement as a mixture of fraudulent promoters and sincere believers, whose proclivity for violence (Terry Nichols' links to the movement are explicitly mentioned) and for harassment by means of fraudulent legal motions intimidate professional law enforcement officers and civil service functionaries. It represented the movement as arguing that by changing one's name on birth certificates, driver's licenses and the like, one can reclaim one's status as a sovereign.[155]

U.S. government responses

Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, enhancing sentences for certain terrorism-related offenses.[156]

In December 2000, President Clinton signed a Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) calling for a predictive and proactive counterintelligence system that integrated oversight of counterintelligence issues across national security agencies.[157]

In June 2014, citing the Oklahoma City bombing and domestic terrorism ranging from anti-government animus to racial prejudice, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the revival of an information sharing body, originally instituted by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno as part of Clinton’s PDD provisions. Holder said the new Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee (DTEC) would provide those who combat domestic terror threats, with a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership-level forum in which to share information and coordinate efforts of federal and local law enforcement agencies, other local officials, and citizens.[158]

In October 2015, during a domestic terrorism seminar at George Washington University, National Security Division leader and Assistant Attorney General, John P. Carlin, stated that the Obama Administration had witnessed “anti-government views triggering violence throughout America.” Carlin personally confirmed the 2014 START survey findings, saying that during his time at the FBI and DOJ, law enforcement officials had identified sovereign citizens as their top concern. Carlin referred to social media as a “radicalization echo chamber,” through which domestic extremists deliver, re-appropriate and reinforce messages of hate, propaganda, and calls to recruitment and violence. He charged its service providers with the responsibility of tracking, and taking action against, any such abuse of its services.[159]

Carlin announced that, in order to ensure that the DOJ benefited from terrorist-related information and input received from around the country, it had created a new position of Domestic Terrorism Counsel. He said the position would serve several functions: as a main point of contact for U.S. Attorneys working on domestic terrorism matters; to ensure proper coordination of domestic terrorism cases; to play a key role in DOJ headquarter-level efforts to identify domestic terrorism trends, and to analyze legal gaps or enhancements, in order to better shape department strategies for countering national security threats; and to help direct DTEC efforts by providing members with overview and insights into various domestic terrorism cases and trends.[159]

See also

===

**Sovereignty International Inc.**

Property-rights group Sovereignty International Inc. (SII) is a leading promoter of United Nations paranoia, claiming that environmental regulations are part of a plot to establish a "one world government" -- a theme echoed by militia groups nationwide. SII was founded by ECO's Henry Lamb; the American Sheep Industry Association's Tom McDonnell, who has collaborated with LaRouche propagandist Rogelio Maduro to attack U.N. biodiversity programs; and Dr. Michael Coffman, who did a speaking tour this summer sponsored by the John Birch Society. His topic: The U.N.-corporate-environmentalist conspiracy to seize control of private land in America, hand it over to wild animals, and herd all the humans into crowded communities. SII's Web site consists of a single malfunctioning page on the server of Liberty Matters, a property-rights project. Funded by: Unknown.

Sovereignty International Incorporated (SII) is a "not-for-profit, educational 501(c)(3), non-membership organization." SII states on its website[1] that it "exists to promote the belief that best government is empowered only by the consent of those who are governed. The consent of those who are governed can only be expressed by free and open elections of officials who are exclusively responsible for enacting public policy. We believe this bedrock principle of government and societal organization is essential to the maintenance of the foundational principles of individual freedom, inalienable private property rights, free markets and national sovereignty."

Contents [hide]

Funding

SII states that[2] "Individuals may support [its] work by direct contributions, and by subscription to [its] publication and Internet services."

Personnel

The following is according to the "Who We Are" page for Sovereignty International.[3]

Board of Directors

Advisory Council

The SII Advisory Council "consists of selected individuals and organizations that have special expertise in every facet of U.N. activity. They provide regular updates on issues and events within their area of expertise."[4]

Contact information

1229 Broadway #313

Bangor, ME 04401

Phone: 207 945-9878

and

P.O. Box 191

Hollow Rock, TN 38342

Phone: 731 986-0099

URL: http://www.sovereignty.net/

Resources and articles

References

  1. ↑ Mission Statement of Sovereignty International.
  2. ↑ Mission Statement of Sovereignty International.
  3. ↑ Who We Are: Advisory Council, Sovereignty International, accessed July 3, 2007.
  4. ↑ What We Do, Sovereignty International.

Categories:

surprisingly ok

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen

"

This category of litigant shares one other critical characteristic: they will only honour state, regulatory, contract, family, fiduciary, equitable, and criminal obligations if they feel like it. And typically, they don’t.
—Assoc. Chief Defender J.D. Rooke, Alberta, Canada, in the case Meads v. Meads

Sovereign citizens typically believe that there are two types of citizens: natural citizens and Fourteenth Amendment citizens. Based on idiosyncratic readings of the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights they believe that natural citizens are citizens of the United States by virtue of having been born in one of the 50 states, not including the District of Columbia, having renounced his US federal citizenship and "contracts" (a term of art used exclusively by sovereign citizens in this context), and filed a "quiet title". Actions to quiet title always relate to disputes about the ownership of real property and certain titled chattels, so the notion of quieting title to a human being is unknown to the law (or, well, it has been since 1865). Sovereign citizens believe that natural citizens are not subject to any United States federal law, including being subject to the jurisdiction of federal courts, but are subject to natural law and common law. By contrast, Fourteenth Amendment citizens are subject to federal and common law, but can become sovereign citizens by taking the same action as sovereign citizens.

In the United States, the sovereign citizen movement is closely related to the Posse Comitatus and freemen on the land movements, and there is substantial overlap between these movements and militia movements.

Many sovereign citizens believe that only white men have rights because only the Constitution and the Bill of Rights apply, not any subsequent amendments.[1] Thus, they believe the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery) is unconstitutional and of no effect. They may also believe that the Nineteenth Amendment is unconstitutional, meaning women never gained suffrage and any election in which women vote is null and void.[2]

Though a few stateless people exist in the world (most in permanent diplomatic limbo due to lack of any citizenship), and in the United States a few have somewhat arcane legal status allowing them to be citizens of their place of residence (currently recognized only in American Samoa and Swains Island) but not the U.S. at large, the idea that one can renounce one's citizenship in order to evade the laws of the land is unknown in all countries and U.S. courts have uniformly found this argument frivolous.

Contents [hide]

[edit] Scams

This claim is also associated with a few bizarre "debt elimination" scams which hold that if somebody files all the right paperwork with the government declaring themselves a sovereign citizen, they then have access to unlimited funds from the U.S. Treasury to pay off all their mortgages and other debts, similar to the theories of the redemption movement. The gist of the argument is that the Social Security Act established accounts at the U.S. Treasury for every American citizen and that declaring oneself a "sovereign citizen" gives one the legal right to issue "sight drafts" or "bills of exchange" which draw on your personal U.S. Treasury Account to pay off debts. This is not true, and those who have fallen for this scam have found the only person who gained access to any funds as a result was the scammer who charged them money to learn about this bizarre debt elimination method at his seminar.

The intellectual limitations for many members of the movement is indicated by the response of a Texas motorist to a December 4, 2008 traffic stop. "I am Texas Republican sovereignty. I do not recognize this as a legal traffic stop...

pretty good

http://www.:{forbes.:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:com/sites/jjmacnab/2012/02/13/what-is-a-sovereign-citizen/#58c3934f2420

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