The Congressional Black Caucus and 270 left-leaning groups tried to block me from testifying in Congress. Their rationale was extremely hypocritical and, dare I say, Orwellian.
CBC Chair @RepYvetteClarke said the hearing—which focused on my research on the SPLC—was a "deliberate effort to intimidate and discredit an institution that has spent decades defending civil rights, exposing hate, and advancing opportunity for all Americans."
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She said the hearing "undermines the very civil institutions that give everyday people voice, protection, and power."
So, she's endorsing the SPLC's "hate" accusations and failing to admit that the SPLC itself has undermined "civil institutions." More on that later.
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The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights organized 258 left-leaning groups against the hearing, including AFL-CIO, Center for American Progress, Human Rights Campaign, Brennan Center, Demos, SEIU, Tides, and the Western States Center.
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The letter claims that the hearing “is not about any single organization—it is about a broader effort to use government power to silence people.”
FACT CHECK: False. It was about the Southern Poverty Law Center, and its using government to silence people.
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“At stake is whether people—regardless of their viewpoint—can express themselves without fear of government retaliation," the letter says. It warns against "the repression of dissent."
That's quite ironic...
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The National Council of Nonprofits & Independent Sector warned the hearing would "chill the speech of organizations throughout our sector." The groups warned that this is subjecting "perceived political opponents to harassment."
Again, ironic.
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If these Democrats and activist groups truly cared about “repression of dissent” and the chilling of free speech, they wouldn’t line up so readily to defend one of the worst offenders in American society.
That's the message @JudiciaryGOP invited me to testify about.
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The SPLC routinely defames mainstream conservatives and Christians, comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan by putting them on a “hate map.”
I testified alongside two men whose organizations faced political violence after the SPLC attacked them.
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If these groups really oppose using "government power to silence people," they shouldn't be defending SPLC.
The FBI cited SPLC on "radical-traditional Catholics," SPLC briefed prosecutors in Merrick Garland's DOJ, & sent its "hate map" to Kristen Clarke's team.
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As I told @RepMcClintock, "there are few organizations that engage in the chilling of civil society more than the Southern Poverty Law Center."
It is beyond hypocritical for these groups to defend the SPLC in the name of upholding civil society.
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By protecting SPLC from scrutiny, the Congressional Black Caucus and its 260 allied leftist groups are abetting the chilling of speech. It seems these groups are fine with government silencing people—just so long as it’s not their people.
Here's @RepCohen's press release touting that he questioned the "smear" that the SPLC is anti-Christian, suggesting that he stood up against supposedly false claims.
But I know what really happened, because I was the witness.
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Cohen did mention that some Christians support the SPLC. I don't disagree. It seems he thought I wouldn't be able to defend my assertion that the SPLC is anti-Christian, however.
I came ready to defend the claim.
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Here's theclip. Thanks to @chiproytx for allowing Cohen's questions to go over the 5 min in the @JudiciaryGOP hearing.
I noted that the SPLC, when branding @RuthInstitute a "hate group," cited as evidence @DrJrobackmorse's quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Gov-elect Abigail Spanberger apparently doesn’t consider it disqualifying for someone to endorse an activist group that considers the official teaching of your faith “hateful.”
The whistleblower account @Minnesota_DHS went viral after accusing Tim Walz of retaliation against whistleblowers amid the massive fraud scandals. X suspended the account. Conservatives think this was more retaliation.
“Certainly it was retaliation, the question is by whom?” @billglahn with @MNThinkTank told me.
He said the X account had been feeding him information only insiders would know.
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State Rep. @KRobbinsMN suggested "someone went to X and said, 'They're not who they say they are,' which just is not true." Robbins told me that she has met in person with the whistleblowers behind the account.
Salesforce, a 75K-employee firm, uses Benevity to help workers make an impact. Benevity helps employees support causes they believe in, donating before taxes, matching grants, and volunteering. But Salesforce blacklisted conservatives using SPLC.
SPLC leverages its reputation of suing KKK groups into bankruptcy, putting out a "hate map" that plots mainstream conservative and Christian groups alongside Klan chapters. How do you get on the map? By opposing the SPLC's agenda.
HHS asked medical professionals around the world for peer review, but the department also asked pro-trans groups—the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Endocrine Society—to weigh in. The AAP and ES refused to even engage.
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HHS let these groups "point out whether the review might have made errors or omissions," Sapir told me. The supplement, released today, shows that "no such errors or omissions could be identified."