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</font><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jared-loughner-was-obsessed-with-grammar</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2011/01/12/expert-loughner-rants-sound-like-sovereign-citizen-beliefs/#4a2c27115442</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Expert: Loughner Rants Sound Like<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Sovereign Citizen</span> Beliefs</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Janet Novack ,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> FORBES </span>STAFF </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I write from D.C. about tax and retirement policy and planning. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In his <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">YouTube videos and postings on MySpace</span>, alleged Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner echoed the bizarre beliefs of the extreme anti-government Sovereign Citizen movement. At least that’s the conclusion of JJ MacNab, who for more than a decade has tracked (and infiltrated online) the world of tax protesters and anti-government extremists.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In a post Monday on the mental health treatment and gun control gaps the case highlights, I wrote, “It’s hard to decipher any coherent views from Loughner’s You Tube ramblings.” Hard for me, that is. But MacNab, who I’ve known and respected for years, says Loughner’s weird references to “literacy” and “grammar” which mystify me, are Sovereign markers to her. “Sovereigns have their own set of complex cultural references and vocabulary, which they think that outsiders are just too stupid to understand,’’ she explains on her web site.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">If MacNab is correct about Loughner, there are three important implications. First, finger pointing between left and right is off the mark in this case. “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The world of Sovereign extremism exists outside of our traditional political spectrum, so labeling someone like Loughner a left-wing extremist or right-wing Teapartier doesn’t make any sense,” she writes.[?]</span></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In an interview Tuesday, MacNab explained that while the Sovereign movement has both white supremacist and tax protester roots, as it has spread (in large part over the Internet) it has also morphed. Newer and younger Sovereigns aren’t primarily white racists;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> some of the fastest growing Sovereign groups are African American </span>and some Sovereigns even have left wing views. But like their predecessors, current Sovereigns consider the government illegitimate and embrace var<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ious bizarre and elaborate conspiracy theories, including that the government was involved in 9/11. (Loughner was reportedly a 9/11 truther.)</span></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>So what makes someone a Sovereign? The vast government conspiracy part is key </b>says MacNab, who is writing a book on tax protesters and the Sovereigns. On her web site she writes: “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">A Sovereign believes that every individual has more rights and power than any government agency or political body, but that sinister forces behind the government have systematically suppressed this secret knowledge in order to better enslave us all as `subjects</span>.’ <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Depending on the sovereign group, the conspiracy behind the government is run by rich bankers, the Federal Reserve, <b>Jews,</b> Zionists, the Pope, the Queen of England, or in one extreme case, s<b>hape-shifting reptiles.</b></span>” Moreover, she says, Sovereigns have a fixation with words that can expose this conspiracy, which they blame for their various problems—with taxes, debts, ex-spouses, child protective services, and so on.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MacNab notes that not all tax protesters are full-blown Sovereigns and not all Sovereigns have troubles with the IRS. Some Sovereigns have mental problems, some don’t. Overall, she estimates there are 300,000 Sovereigns in the U.S. and she believes that number is growing....</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><h1 class="print-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Explained: Jared Loughner’s <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Grammar Obsession</span></font></h1><div class="dek" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His statements echo the teachings of a far-right tax-resister movement.</font></div><p class="submitted" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="byline">By Justine Sharrock</span> | <span class="dateline">Tue <b>Jan. 11, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2011</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></span></font></p><hr class="print-hr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: gray;" /><div class="print-content" style="line-height: 1.8em;"><div id="node-94516" class="node node-type-html node-type-article-full" style=""><div class="node-inner clear-block" style=""><div class="content clear-block" style=""><div class="field field-type-text field-field-short-body" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item odd"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What was going on in Jared Loughner's mind? Based on his online rantings, the man who allegedly emptied a<b> <a href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/expired-gun-law-would-probably-have-limited-loughers-death-toll" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">31-round clip</a></b> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span> into Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and dozens of bystanders Saturday was preoccupied with theories on a massive government fraud. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many of his seemingly random statements—on "grammar," "the ratifications," "the new currency," and more—echo the teachings of the <b>"sovereign citizen" </b>movement, a right-wing school of thought alleging that Americans have been surreptitiously stripped of their God-given rights.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These are not random parallels, as I discovered in reviewing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Loughner's YouTube videos</a> <span class="print-footnote">[2]</span>. In multiple instances, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he uses the precise talking points sovereign-citizen theorists teach via a thriving cottage industry of books,<b> websites</b>, bogus legal companies, and seminars; </span>one popular theorist, David Wynn Miller, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/10shooter.html?pagewanted=2&r=1&hp" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">told the New York Times</a> <span class="print-footnote">[3]</span> that Loughner has "probably been on my website." (It's important to note that the sovereign-citizen movement is a philosophy, not an organized movement; Loughner's interest in its teachings doesn't implicate any individuals or organizations in his actions.) A few cases in point, taken from a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10#p/a/u/1/nHoaZaLbqB4" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">video</a> <span class="print-footnote">[4]</span> Loughner posted on December 15, 2010.</font></p><p class="rtecenter" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: center;" /><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>"The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." </strong><strong>(3:34)</strong></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Guardian's Peter Walker <span class="print-footnote">[ GUK 5]</span> and <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47329.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown</a> <span class="print-footnote">[6]</span> reports have pointed out, this is the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> basic premise of the sovereign-citizen argument, which posits that government has used linguistic devices in certain laws to strip us of our rights</span>. "This is an extraordinary freaking word game," says Alfred Adask, a guru of the sovereign movement and former publisher of the sovereign-citizen magazine <em>AntiShyster</em>, told me. "Not many people know how to do it or even understand it. The government has ensnared us with the sophisticated use of words and put us back into bondage. You have to master the definitions and start working out with a law dictionary."</font></p></div></div></div><fieldset class="fieldgroup group-legacy" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="field field-type-text field-field-article-text" style=""><div class="field-items" style=""><div class="field-item odd" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>"I can't trust the current government because of the ratifications." </strong><strong>(3:34)</strong></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To theorists like Robert Kelly, publisher of <em>The American's Sovereign Bulletin</em><i>,</i> the leading publication in the sovereign-citizen world, it all started with the Constitution's Reconstruction Amendments—the 13th, 14th, and 15th—which established a secondary class of citizens under the control of the government. This was done by cleverly deploying phrases such as "citizens subject to the jurisdiction thereof" and "inalienable rights" (supposedly denoting rights that can be surrendered, as opposed to "unalienable rights" that can never be taken away). People in the sovereign citizens' movement believe that these subterfuges were originally used to limit African Americans' rights, but have been expanded over time to make all of us second-class citizens with limited rights.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> (Another favorite case in point: the use of the phrase "man or other animals" in the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act—implying, they argue, that humans have no more legal rights than animals).</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>"You don't have to accept the federalist laws. Nonetheless, read the United States of America's Constitution to apprehend all of the current treasonous laws." </strong><strong>(3:10)</strong></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sovereign citizen movement argues that if you closely study the Constitution, you can prove that federal laws are illegitimate—leaving you free to choose not to, say, pay taxes or follow traffic laws. In their view, the minute you get a Social Security number or driver's license, you enter into a contract giving up your sovereignty. (Several sovereign-citizen adherents have told me that home births are popular in the movement for this reason.) To become a sovereign citizen, you retroactively withdraw from this contract. Some also argue that you aren't bound to government contracts if you sign documents in red crayon or use lowercase lettering, alternative punctuation for your name (say, "Justine,,, Sharrock"), or add the letters "TDC" for "under threat, duress, and coercion.") There are myriad theories on how to prove your sovereignty in a court of law, with plenty of experts willing to help—for a fee.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"They are innovative with the pseudolegal and historical tactics," says Mark Pitcavage, a researcher with the Anti-Defamation League. "They are always coming up with new things." Most sovereign citizens employ what the FBI calls "paper terrorism"—using legal documents fraudulently to harass public officials—when fighting the government in the courts.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> People identifying as sovereign citizens have also on occasion fired on police officers trying to enforce laws, and there are rare cases of extreme violence—most notably</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> <b style="">Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols</b>, who identified as a sovereign citizen and even tried to use the movement's arguments in his legal defense.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"These people are bookworms trying to use words, quote the Constitution, and make it their business to learn and commit to memory the definitions," says Adask. "But if people won't hear their words, sooner or later they will hear bullets."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"There is nothing about the sovereign movement that promotes violence per se," says Brent Johnson, host of the <a href="http://www.americafreedomreport.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">"Global Freedom Report" </a><span class="print-footnote">[7]</span>online radio show, though he quickly adds that<b> "it should never be removed from the table</b></span><b>."</b> He espouses nonviolence, but says the IRS and cops know not to mess with him: "If you look like you are prepared to fight back, you will be left alone." Last May, a father-and-son pair from Ohio, both self-declared sovereign citizens, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24arkansas.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">allegedly killed two police officers</a> <span class="print-footnote">[8]</span> and wounded a sheriff and his deputy, who stopped them at a drug checkpoint; both the father and son were killed in an ensuing shootout. And in an <a href="http://articles.courant.com/2010-04-07/business/hc-manhunt-winsted-0406_1_troopers-state-police-bail" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">April 2010 court case</a> <span class="print-footnote">[9]</span>, Brody James Whitaker, who'd opened fire on Florida state troopers who tried to stop him for traffic violations, argued that the officers had no jurisdiction over him.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>"No, I won't pay debt with a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">currency that's not backed by gold and silver!</span>" </strong><strong>(3:34)</strong></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A core sovereign-citizen belief is that when the United States went off the gold standard, the government started using citizens as economic collateral—using our future earnings to secure foreign debt in a sort of giant Ponzi scheme. In this theory, you exist as a regular flesh-and-blood person, but there is also your "corporate shell" (often referred to as "the straw man"), which exists merely on paper and is created when you sign up for a Social Security card.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If all this sounds confusing, that's because it is, even for sovereign citizens themselves. "I have a hard time believing it, but you keep seeing examples again and again," says Adask. "As fantastic as it might sound, they [the government] have literally created an alternative reality." Likewise, Johnson says "we have been living in a matrix world." It follows that sovereign citizens, unlike the tea party movement, don't believe in working to change the government; they insist that all of it is an illegitimate scam we must simply reject.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That's an appealing thought for many—especially given that it comes with an obligation to stop paying taxes, stop paying bills in a false currency, and stop obeying the orders of courts and police.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The recession and a more activist federal government have been a boon to the movement, which saw its previous high point under similar circumstances in the '90s. Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates the total number of believers at 300,000, but acknowledges that the figure includes all manner of tax resisters.</span> Pitcavage, who has been studying the movement for more than 15 years, says he has been receiving more and more calls from law enforcement officials asking for advice on dealing with self-declared sovereign citizens.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When I asked Adask what draws most people to the ideology, he said it's usually desperation after a <b>bankruptcy proceeding or other legal battle.</b> His sovereignty seminars in Texas resembled group therapy sessions, he says, since fighting a system stacked against you "makes you almost mentally ill." Many in the movement, he adds, were the type "who had tears in their eyes when they heard the national anthem. When they found it was a fraud, they were desperate to find something new to believe in. That also makes them very susceptible to being exploited."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">...?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read our exclusive interview with a friend of the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, who describes <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/jared-lee-loughner-friend-voicemail-phone-message" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Loughner's family, bizarre dream journal, and his obsession with Rep. Giffords</a> <span class="print-footnote">[12]</span>. Full coverage of the shooting and its aftermath is <a href="http://motherjones.com/category/secondary-tags/giffords-shooting" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">here</a> <span class="print-footnote" style="font-style: italic;">[13]</span><i>.</i></font></p></div></div></div></fieldset></div></div></div></div><hr class="print-hr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: gray;" /><div class="print-source_url" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Source URL:</strong> <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/sovereign-citizens-jared-lee-loughner" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/sovereign-citizens-jared-lee-loughner</a></font></div><div class="print-links" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Links:</strong>
[1] http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/expired-gun-law-would-probably-have-limited-loughers-death-toll
[2] http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/10shooter.html?pagewanted=2&r=1&hp
[4] http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10#p/a/u/1/nHoaZaLbqB4
[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/gabrielle-giffords-shooting-grammar-extremist
[6] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47329.html
[7] http://www.americafreedomreport.com/
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24arkansas.html
[9] http://articles.courant.com/2010-04-07/business/hc-manhunt-winsted-0406_1_troopers-state-police-bail
[10] http://www.emedicinehealth.com/fda_overview/article_em.htm
[11] http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Milestones/ucm128305.htm
[12] http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/jared-lee-loughner-friend-voicemail-phone-message
[13] http://motherjones.com/category/secondary-tags/giffords-shooting</font></p></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>