Suspect in deadly Palisades Fire was obsessed with Luigi Mangione, critical of rich: Prosecutors



The 2025 Palisades Fire raged for at least 24 days, torching 23,448 acres in Los Angeles County, killing 12 people, and destroying over 6,800 structures.

While state authorities list Jan. 7, 2025, as being the official start of the Palisades Fire, the 30-year-old son of a French citizen is accused of kindling the inferno days earlier.

'It would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money.'

Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested in October and charged with property destruction by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and willful of malicious burning of timber on federal lands. He is alleged to have set the Lachman Fire on New Year's Day — a fire that was suppressed but apparently continued to burn underground until revived topside days later by heavy winds.

Federal prosecutors have provided new details about the alleged arsonist.

According to a trial memorandum reviewed by Bloomberg, Rinderknecht "exhibited extreme anger, indignation, and frustration about being unable to find companionship on New Year’s Eve."

This aligns with what investigators previously said about the suspect.

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agent claimed in a sworn affidavit that:

  • witnesses observed Rinderknecht acting "agitated and angry" on the evening of Dec. 31, 2024;
  • Rinderknecht allegedly watched the music video for a despair-themed song featuring fire-setting imagery repeatedly in the days leading up to the Lachman Fire; and
  • the suspect asked ChatGPT, "Are you at fault if a fire is life [sic] because of your cigarettes."

Prosecutors said in the new filing that after unsuccessfully trying to make plans with two other people, Rinderknecht — then working as an Uber driver — dropped off passengers in the Palisades area then, "alone again," scaled the hillside where investigators apparently found evidence that the suspect had set a fire with a barbecue lighter.

RELATED: Democrats promised to quickly rebuild after Los Angeles fires destroyed homes and lives — they aren't delivering

Qian Weizhong/VCG/Getty Images

Prosecutors further alleged that Rinderknecht had become "increasingly angry with his life and society at large," adding that he had become "fixated on Luigi Mangione" — the 27-year-old Maryland native accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024.

According to the trial memorandum, a forensic review of Rinderknecht's computer revealed he had searched for news regarding Mangione using search terms like "free Luigi Mangione," "lets [sic] take down all the billionaires," and "reddit lets kill all the billionaires."

Mangione is apparently admired by more than one alleged arsonist.

Chamel Abdulkarim, a 29-year-old accused of sparking the massive fire that destroyed a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, California, last month, compared himself to Mangione, according to Bill Essayli, the first assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California.

When questioned by investigators about why someone might set the Palisades area ablaze, Rinderknecht said that "it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as 'we're basically being enslaved by them' and compared such an act of 'desperation' to the murder for which Mangione was charged," prosecutors claimed in the filing.

Steven Haney, Rinderknecht’s lawyer, said in a statement to Bloomberg, "I maintain my client’s innocence."

"No misguided theory from the government will change the lack of evidence showing my client started or was responsible for either of the fires for which he is charged. We look forward to proving it at trial," added Haney.

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Pregnant woman reveals method to make her unborn son gay — and progressive moms cheer



A very disturbing TikTok video has gone viral after a pregnant woman recorded herself playing ABBA songs to make her unborn son gay — while thousands of mothers cheered her on in the comments and across social media.

The video shows her blasting the lyrics “Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight” next to her stomach.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is shocked to read the comments, which include things like, “My son is 4 and exclusively listens to Sabrina Carpenter. Hopes are very high for him being gay.”

“My son just officially came out a few months ago,” reads another comment with a cheering emoji.


Another one reads, “My son was born to ‘Dancing Queen.’ I have high hopes for him.”

“This is disgusting that you are thinking about your child’s sexuality,” Stuckey says.

“It’s a horrible thing to wish on someone. It is. Now, I’m a Christian, and I believe that homosexuality is a sin, OK. But I also think that it’s bad for society to encourage this kind of thing,” she continues.

“We should be encouraging our boys to be strong and to be brave and to be protectors and to be fighters and to rein their masculine energy into good things. Yes, and you can call that old-fashioned, but it’s true,” she adds.

Stuckey likens these mothers’ hopes for gay sons to “conversion therapy” and calls it “very, very grotesque.”

“I talk about this concept of what I call ‘toxic mommy culture’ in my book, ‘You’re Not Enough (and That’s Okay)’ — when moms make their feelings and their validation and their social image the highest priority and they project that onto their kids and they use their children as props to perform this, like, progressivism on social media for likes, affirmation, cultural approval,” Stuckey says.

“I just find this little thing that this mother is doing gross. ... Kids are always the unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments,” she continues. “It’s not good.”

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'Bye': Seattle mayor laughs off wealth exodus from her flagging, crime-ridden city



Katie Wilson, the 43-year-old leftist blogger elected mayor of Seattle last year, apparently finds it amusing that deep-pocketed residents and businesses are fleeing her crime-ridden city.

During a recent event at Seattle University, lecturer Joni Balter raised the matter of downtown Seattle's apparent inability to "grow job these days," noting that "the city has lost 25,000 jobs over four years, and the thinking is — the data folks say — that if you extend that out five years, it could be as high as 37,000 jobs."

'We still have the very regressive tax system.'

According to a recent report from the the Downtown Seattle Association, the Emerald City's downtown has seen a 14% decrease in brick-and-mortar retail jobs since 2010 and lost an estimated 13,000 jobs just last year, amounting to the biggest decrease in jobs since the pandemic.

The report noted further that Seattle's downtown office vacancy remained at a post-pandemic high of 25%; the central business district experienced an office vacancy rate of 32% last year, nearly double the previous high point during the Great Recession in 2009; and the combined taxable value of the 20 highest-valued properties in Seattle's downtown has declined from over $10 billion in 2021 to roughly $5.1 billion this year.

When asked about her plan to "turn that around," Wilson — who appeared on stage alongside fellow radical Girmay Zahilay, the newly elected King County executive — attributed Seattle's exodus of jobs and businesses to a number of factors including potential workers' apparent inability to afford living in or near the downtown; homelessness and public safety issues; and the "tax environment."

While apparently interested in tackling the affordability, homelessness, and public safety issues, Wilson signaled that her city's crushing taxes won't soon be changed.

RELATED: Mamdani finally admits what people knew about his candidacy from the start

David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Wilson, who co-founded the Transit Riders Union in 2011 and endeavored in years past to "Trump-proof Seattle," was later asked about the "taxing climate" and whether progressive taxes were an "easy and promising solution."

After noting that she found it "very exciting" that state Democrats passed a 9.9% tax on annual taxable income exceeding $1 million for individuals or households and recalling her efforts to push similar taxes in Seattle, Wilson said that claims that wealthy residents will flee the state are "super overblown."

But to those beleaguered residents who have chosen to leave or might do so in the near future, the mayor waved, said, "Bye," and laughed in concert with fellow travelers in the sparsely populated audience.

"In general, we still have the very regressive tax system, and my office is doing a lot of work to look at what our options are in terms of progressive taxation," continued Wilson. "We do have more flexibility at the city than the county, in terms of our taxing authority."

Despite Wilson's casual dismissal, high taxes in Seattle appear to be chasing jobs to cities like Bellevue.

Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, suggested that Amazon's decision to relocate thousands of employees from Seattle to other King County locations was the direct result of Seattle's overwhelming tax burden, reported the Center Square. Starbucks, which is headquartered in Seattle, also appears to be angling for greener pastures.

Among the taxes the city has implemented is the Social Housing Tax, a 5% levy on employee compensation exceeding $1 million, and the JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax, which the city slapped on companies with employees making more than $150,000 annually.

"What we need is more businesses in Seattle paying taxes," said Scholes. "That's how we strengthen the tax base."

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Brewer fantasizes about Trump's death AGAIN — and even Wisconsin Democrats are appalled



Kirk Bangstad, the owner of Minocqua Brewing Company in Wisconsin and the treasurer of a federal super PAC of the same name, is among the American leftists who apparently savor news of violence against conservatives and other Americans with opposing political views.

Bangstad rushed, for instance, to state, "F**k Charlie Kirk," immediately after the Turning Point USA founder's assassination at Utah Valley University, then wrote weeks later, "May his soul never find peace."

Beyond relishing in Kirk's demise, Bangstad — a twice-failed Democratic political candidate who was ordered to pay a six-figure sum for defamation in 2023 and was charged with harassment last year — vowed in an alarming message posted in January to give fellow travelers "free beer, all day long, the day he dies."

Though the post did not mention President Donald Trump by name, Bangstad's remarks to reporters and subsequent posts made clear he was referring to Trump, whom he unsuccessfully attempted to block from the 2024 presidential ballot in Wisconsin.

In the post — made after Bangstad circulated a wanted poster for a federal agent, called for "regime change" in the U.S., and stated that "it's just a matter of time" before "every ICE agent will face justice" — the brewer insinuated Trump's death was imminent, writing, "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we'll make good on that promise."

While Wisconsin Democrats were virtually silent about Bangstad's extremist content earlier this year — content that the U.S. Secret Service previously told Blaze News was on the agency's radar — they piped up after the brewer wrote the following last weekend after yet another attempt on Trump's life, this time at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:

Well, we almost got #freebeerday. Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a a [sic] positive news cycle. We'll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens.

A spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — whose female reporter Bangstad has tasked his followers with hounding — that the radical brewer's "rhetoric is completely unacceptable and should be retracted immediately."

RELATED: Karoline Leavitt names and shames Democrats who inspired WHCD assassination attempt

Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

"We're not afraid to call out this sort of inappropriate behavior no matter where it comes from — our GOP colleagues should learn to do the same," said state Democratic Party spokesman Phil Shulman.

"I denounce those who had any reaction to last night's shooting other than outrage at the state of political violence in our country," said former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is presently running as a Democrat for governor. "It's completely unacceptable, and I am thankful for the actions of law enforcement who acted swiftly and bravely to keep everyone safe."

A campaign spokeswoman for Democratic state Rep. Francesca Hong, who is also running for governor, told the Journal Sentinel that Bangstad's post "is intentionally inflammatory and a symptom of the normalization of political violence."

Missy Hughes, another Democratic candidate in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race, stated, "Such vile rhetoric is completely unacceptable and must be universally condemned."

Even a former underling has turned against the brewer.

Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat running in Wisconsin for the U.S. Congress who worked for Bangstad during his failed 2016 congressional campaign, said, "This rhetoric is dangerous and unacceptable — showcasing just how broken our political system is."

The criticism by fellow travelers appears to have broken Bangstad's thin skin.

The brewer, who has apparently been selling voodoo dolls bearing the faces of Trump administration officials and "I wish it was free beer day" T-shirts, wrote on Facebook, "Leave it to the Corporate Dems and politically naive Democratic gubernatorial candidates to take the bait and condemn 'political violence' or 'politically violent rhetoric' after the 3rd questionably/arguable fake assassination attempt against Trump."

"Aggression and accusation is the MO of Trump and MAGA," Bangstad wrote. "Flat-footed answers and retreat is unfortunately the MO of Corporate Dems and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Time to flip the scrip [sic] and for Democratic leaders and journalists to force Trump and his regime to prove they're not lying before covering a story about political violence and yet another 'would-be assassination attempt.'"

After claiming that his assertion that leftists need to "work on their marksmanship" was "hyperbole," Bangstad wrote in a post on Tuesday, "The day 'he' dies will do a LOT to end that suffering. Sure, JD Vance will bring with him a more intelligent treachery to the world stage if Trump passes — but when the symbol of American weakness, ignorance, and bigotry finally breathes his last breath — the entire world will be able to breathe a little easier."

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Fetterman urges Democrats to 'drop the TDS' after WHCD shooting — but Pritzker and Soviet-born Democrat don't listen



A depraved radical opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday night with the apparent aim of assassinating President Donald Trump and administration officials.

Following this latest attempt on his life, Trump implored all Americans to "recommit with their hearts in resolving our difference peacefully."

'A lot of this does come from the White House.'

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expounded on the need to drop the divisive rhetoric, telling reporters on Monday that "this political violence stems from a systemic demonization of [Trump] and his supporters by commentators — yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media. This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump, day after day after day for 11 years, has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment."

Like the hordes of anti-Trump leftists who sounded off online over the weekend, especially on the liberal X knockoff Bluesky, Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) made clear Monday on CNN that he would rather point fingers than build bridges.

Vindman impressed upon CNN talking head Sara Sidner the supposed need for social media censorship, which he euphemistically referred to as "better regulat[ion.]"

When Sidner asked the Democrat congressman whether toning down the rhetoric "is even possible with this political class, with the vitriol that comes out of the White House," Vindman agreed that Trump is at least partially responsible for the divisive "political climate."

"No," responded Vindman, a native of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic whose twin brother attacked Trump online after the previous attempt on the president's life. "Absolutely not. And look, I think you're right. A lot of this does come from the White House."

RELATED: Suspected WHCD shooter and another would-be Trump assassin have a lot in common — and it's not just Ukraine

U.S. President Trump via Truth Social/Anadolu/Getty Images

Vindman was hardly the only Democrat who apparently felt obliged to blame Trump for the violence directed his way.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) told CNN on Monday, "Remember that it's been Donald Trump and the Republicans that have called for political violence."

After blaming suspected shooter Cole Allen's intended targets, Pritzker said that America needs to bring "peace to its politics." This sentiment was, however, short-lived, as he proceeded to defend the suggestion in his state of the state speech last year that the Trump administration is reminiscent of the Nazi regime in Germany.

Unlike Pritzker and Vindman, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) told his Democrat peers to "drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these."

Fetterman further acknowledged that the hotel where the gunman attacked on Saturday "wasn't build to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government."

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday, "What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough!"

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Suspected WHCD shooter and another would-be Trump assassin have a lot in common — and it's not just Ukraine



Nine weeks after Thomas Matthew Crooks' attempt on Donald Trump's life at a July 13, 2024, rally in Pennsylvania, Ryan Routh tried his hand at assassinating then-candidate Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Cole Allen, identified as the suspect who opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday night, appears to share much in common with Routh.

'I'm a random Californian guy.'

Besides making donations to the same party and obsessing over the same foreign power, both Routh — who was sentenced in February to life in prison over his attempted assassination of Trump — and Allen were apparently radicalized in recent years with the help of Democrats' incendiary rhetoric.

Donations and slogans

Although not a registered member of a political party for decades, Routh, a 60-year-old North Carolina native, made multiple donations to support Democrats beginning in 2019 and voted in North Carolina's Democratic primary in March 2024.

In addition to supporting Democrats monetarily and at the ballot box, Routh supported their divisive narrative.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats not only characterized Trump and other Republicans as fascists and imminent threats to the republic ahead of the 2024 election but repeatedly claimed that "democracy is on the ballot in November."

In some instances, Harris — who joked in 2018 about Trump dying — coupled this claim with combative language, stating that democracy "is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it" and painting a target on Trump by referring to him as a would-be "dictator."

Then-President Joe Biden was far less subtle, stating on a July 8, 2024, phone call with donors, "We're done talking about the debate. It's time to put Trump in a bull's-eye."

RELATED: Stunning new details reveal the 'depraved' motivation of the suspected WHCD shooter

FBI outside a home associated with the suspected WHCAD shooter in Torrance, California. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Routh accepted this alarmist view, sometimes repeating Democrats' slogan verbatim.

On April 22, 2024, for instance, Routh tweeted to then-President Joe Biden, writing, "@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ... make Americans slave again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way."

Allen, like Routh, contributed a modest donation to at least one Democratic cause, a Harris-supporting Democratic PAC in October 2024, reported the Associated Press.

The suspected WHCAD shooter, who was reportedly engaged in political activism in recent years and a member of the leftist group "the Wide Awakes," also amplified unhinged anti-Trump messaging from Democrats online.

The investigative journalist behind the Substack Kanekoa News reported that ahead of the 2024 election, a X user believed to be Allen repeatedly shared alarmist social media posts on X from Kamala Harris, Democratic lawmakers, liberal media personalities, and the anti-Trump propaganda outfit MeidasTouch and amplified liberal characterizations of Trump as a fascist or Nazi.

Allen's alleged manifesto and the Bluesky account ascribed to Allen are replete with evidence suggesting that he continued to stew in alarmist Democratic propaganda in the time since the 2024 election.

For instance, the Bluesky user believed to be Allen — the handle is @coldforce.bsky.social, and Cole allegedly signed his manifesto "Cole 'coldForce' 'Friendly Federal Assassin' Allen" — shared a post from Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) earlier this month claiming that Trump "is deranged, unstable, and unfit to lead," as well as a post from Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (D) that stated Trump "must be impeached and removed from office" and "Republicans who don't stop him will have blood on their hands."

Ukraine obsession

Routh was unmistakably a Ukraine obsessive.

The would-be assassin:

  • ran a website called "Fight for Ukraine," which details various ways — including unlawful ways — people could supposedly go to fight as mercenaries in Ukraine;
  • pleaded online with Western defense officials and organizations to allow Afghan mercenaries into Ukraine;
  • demonstrated in support of Ukraine's infamous Azov Brigade;
  • self-published a book in 2023 titled "Ukraine's Unwinnable War" detailing his unsuccessful attempts to aid Ukraine's war effort; and
  • asserted on X that he was "going to fight and die for Ukraine."

The social media accounts ascribed to Allen — who allegedly stated in the manifesto, "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes" — provide evidence of a similar obsession with Ukraine and its efforts to repel Russian forces.

For starters, the bio for Allen's alleged Bluesky account states, "I'm a random Californian guy with posts about American politics, support for Ukraine, and observations of small creatures."

The Bluesky user believed to be Allen also shared Ukrainian military fundraiser posts, updates on Russian attacks, and multiple posts insinuating that Trump is in league with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While highly critical of Trump, the user also directed Ukraine-related ire toward Vice President JD Vance.

At a Turning Point USA event on April 14, Vance recalled how his advocacy for ending funding for the Ukraine war ruffled feathers, then noted he was proud of the Trump administration's refusal to continue "buying weapons and sending them to Ukraine anymore."

This evidently enraged the Bluesky user believed to be Cole, who wrote, "He's proud that we don't uphold our commitments[;] what a piece of s**t."

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Picking Voice Actors By Race Is Killing The Beloved Avatar Series

No one wants to watch their favorite characters given worse performances by unseen voice actors who may better physically resemble them.

'Evil and disgusting': Days-long Israeli LGBT festival planned near Sodom prompts biblical backlash



The Israeli government announced on Monday that this June, "the Dead Sea becomes Pride Land, the biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East," adding that "Pride rises at the lowest place on earth."

This celebration of degeneracy and non-straight lifestyle choices — set to take place near what is believed to be the site of Sodom, the city razed by God because of its brazen sexual corruption — will run 24 hours a day from June 1 to June 4.

'You won't see this anywhere else in the region.'

According the Jerusalem Post, the non-straight festival will raise a city in the desert featuring parties, a central performance arena, art complexes, "relaxation" areas, and "family-friendly areas with children's activities."

"This is not just another festival; it's the biggest thing we've done here," Aaron Cohen, the main producer behind "Pride Land," told the Post. "It's an experience that lives 24/7, from quiet visits to nights of Pride, with a living envelope of music and people."

The promotion of the event by the Israeli government — just one day after the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that one of its soldiers smashed a statue of the crucified Christ outside a church with a sledgehammer — prompted significant backlash among some conservative Christians.

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Sepia Times/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

American theologian and pastor Dale Partridge tweeted, "The devil couldn’t have written it better. 'The lowest place on earth' 'The Dead Sea becomes pride land.'"

BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre raised the matter of whether his tax dollars might be subsidizing the event, then asked, "Can anyone very carefully explain to me why American Christians owe anything to this?"

Conservative commentator Michael Knowles insinuated that the Israeli government's announcement answered the question recently posed by the New York Times about the cause of the recent increase in meteor sightings overhead.

Knowles' colleague, Matt Walsh, called the planned festival "absolutely evil and disgusting."

Tomasz Froelich, an Alternative for Germany politician who serves in the European Parliament, noted that "the Patriarch of Jerusalem was denied access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday for security reasons, but there is comfort: The Pride can take place without a care!"

The eponymous host of BlazeTV's "The John Doyle Show" wrote, "God could do the funniest thing ever."

On Friday, the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., plugged the event, stating, "You won't see this anywhere else in the region."

While the Israeli government appears keen to get the word out about the Sodom-adjacent LGBT festival, the U.S. State Department has recommended that Americans reconsider travel to the country due to terrorism and civil unrest and instructed travelers to avoid crowds.

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History of violence: How the SPLC's demonization racket helped set the stage for at least 1 shooting



The Southern Poverty Law Center was formally incorporated in 1971 by a pair of Alabama lawyers keen on handling anti-discrimination cases and advancing the cause of civil rights in the United States.

The SPLC morphed over time into a smear- and fear-mongering racket, raking in millions of dollars in contributions — over $106.47 million in fiscal year 2024 alone — and paying its executives gargantuan salaries while both attacking law-abiding conservatives and allegedly funding the very extremism it purportedly seeks to curb.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that a grand jury in Alabama returned an indictment charging the SPLC with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

The organization is accused of secretly dumping over $3 million in donated funds to individuals linked to various extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America — groups the SPLC was supposedly fighting against.

'The SPLC hate group label will almost undoubtedly make it into press reports about future events.'

While liberal donors might now be waking up to the fact that the SPLC is a radical and rotten organization, conservatives have long recognized it as a menace and for good reason: The SPLC's mischaracterizations and alarmist rhetoric helped set the stage for at least one shooting.

The Family Research Council is a conservative think tank that promotes family, marriage, and the rights of the unborn and speaks forcefully against divorce, pornography, and sexual deviancy. By maintaining orthodox and principled biblical stances on various social issues, the FRC found itself on the SPLC's radar.

The liberal hate racket listed the Family Research Council as an "anti-gay group" in a winter 2010 report and put it on the same list of extremist groups as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations — groups that allegedly "have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

RELATED: SPLC indictment BOMBSHELL: Charlottesville violence allegedly was a leftist-funded 'false flag'

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Heidi Beirich, then-research director at the SPLC, said there was no difference between the FRC and the KKK in the eyes of the SPLC; that "what we're saying is these [anti-gay] groups perpetrate hate — just like those [racist] organizations do."

The SPLC's hate-mongering ultimately set the stage for a terrorist attack against the Family Research Council.

Floyd Lee Corkins II stormed into the office of the FRC in Washington, D.C., armed with a gun on Aug. 15, 2012. Corkins later told investigators that he got the name of the conservative organization from the SPLC's list of alleged anti-gay groups and that he intended to kill as many FRC employees as he could.

'They’d love nothing more than to see TPUSA in the crosshairs.'

The terrorist proved unable to execute his massacre thanks to the bravery of Leonardo Reno Johnson, the unarmed security guard on duty that day.

Despite catching a bullet to the arm, Johnson managed to disarm and subdue the shooter.

"Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shot yesterday that wounded one of our colleagues and our friend Leo Johnson," said Tony Perkins, president of the FRC, "but Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center."

The SPLC displaced any and all blame for the attack, stating the day after the shooting that "Perkins' accusation is outrageous" and that the FRC "should stop the demonization and affirm the dignity of all people."

As evidenced by its serial demonization of other conservatives and conservative groups, including Turning Point USA and its founder Charlie Kirk, the hate racket clearly did not learn anything from the incident.

The SPLC's "Year in Hate and Extremism 2024" report contained a lengthy section titled "Turing Point USA: A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024."

This section stated that:

  • "Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA is a well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics";
  • TPUSA under Kirk was "emblematic" of the American political right's supposed embrace of "aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy" against a backdrop of "patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions";
  • TPUSA was advancing a "narrow vision" that fights for "white, male, Christian dominance in America" and results in the demonization of nonconforming men, women, and "nonbinary people"; and
  • Kirk framed Christianity as superior and Christians as persecuted to justify TPUSA's "extreme, authoritarian vision for the country that threatens the foundation of our democracy."

Kirk knew full-well what the hate racket was up to, stating on May 25, 2025, "The SPLC has added Turning Point to their ridiculous 'hate group' list, right next to the KKK and neo-Nazis, a cheap smear from a washed-up org that’s been fleecing scared grandmas for decades."

"Their game plan? Scare financial institutions into debanking us, pressure schools to cancel us, and demonize us so some unhinged lunatic feels justified targeting us," continued Kirk. "Remember the Family Research Council? An SPLC-inspired gunman went after them. They’d love nothing more than to see TPUSA in the crosshairs."

The day before Kirk's Sept. 10, 2025, assassination at Utah Valley University, the SPLC Hatewatch newsletter named Kirk and TPUSA as extremist, according to testimony entered into the congressional record in December.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), chairman of the House subcommittee on the Constitution and limited government, said during the same hearing, "As with FRC, in the aftermath of Charlie's assassination, there have been no retractions, no accountability, and no acknowledgment of the risks inherent in branding mainstream political figures as existential threats. These incidents, separated by 13 years but linked by the same targeting architecture, underscore a sobering reality. The SPLC's designations don't merely stigmatize. They can serve as ideological permission slips for individuals already willing to commit political violence."

Unlike Corkins, Kirk's alleged assassin does not appear to have made any mention of the SPLC's smears against his victim.

FRC president Tony Perkins welcomed the charges against the SPLC on Tuesday, noting that "for years, the SPLC has used its platform to label and target organizations with whom it disagrees, often blurring the line between legitimate concern and ideological attack. That kind of reckless characterization doesn't just damage reputations, it has put lives at risk."

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SPLC indictment BOMBSHELL: Charlottesville violence allegedly was a leftist-funded 'false flag'



Charlottesville, Virginia, became a flash point as tensions grew in August 2017 over the fate of American monuments that liberals deemed too racist to leave standing in public spaces.

A hodgepodge of protesters and counterprotesters — which included radical leftists, those opposed to removing Confederate statues, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists — descended on the city ahead of the so-called Unite the Right rally on Aug. 12.

Agitators helped ensure that the event went sideways.

'Trigger the violence because you can't stop the legitimate speech.'

Following a series of skirmishes between various factions, one demonstrator drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, injuring over 30 and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

According to the grand jury indictment filed against the Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday, this bloody and tragic event — which the American left politically exploited for years and former President Joe Biden cited as his reason for running in 2020 — was the product, in part, of liberal machinations.

The indictment accuses the SPLC — a liberal outfit whose bread and butter is smearing law-abiding conservatives as "extremists" — of funneling millions of dollars to the very extremist groups it claimed to be fighting.

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In addition to allegedly bankrolling leaders and organizers in the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, the National Socialist Party of America, and the National Alliance, the SPLC allegedly "had a field source who was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 'Unite the Right' event," according to the indictment.

This field source, who is not named in the indictment, allegedly made "racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees."

For their contributions to the cause, this field source was allegedly paid over $270,000 by the SPLC in secret between 2015 and 2023.

The SPLC did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

While its insider was allegedly setting the stage for the rally, the SPLC worked feverishly to emphasize the importance of the planned event, noting in an Aug. 7, 2017, Hatewatch post, for example, that "the event may well become a seminal point for the Alt-Right and the extremist hate fringe: It’s a bold move beyond the anonymity of web sites, message boards, pseudonyms and social media — a move to take the hardcore, racist, white nationalist message to the public square."

In the same post, the SPLC hyped the possibility of violence at the "'summer of hate' gathering of racist extremists from all corners of the country," noting that "the looming social chemistry on a hot summer weekend ... seems to point to the clear possibility of violence."

The bloodletting in Charlottesville proved to be a windfall for the SPLC.

Days after the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "hate is a cancer and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path." Seeking to "help organizations who work to rid our country of hate," Cook announced that his company was making a $1 million contribution to the SPLC.

Soon thereafter, JP Morgan Chase & Co. pledged half a million to the SPLC, and George and Amal Clooney announced that they were dumping $1 million into SPLC to help it highlight the imagined dangers of white-supremacist ideology.

The Clooneys said in a statement at the time, "What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate."

According to the indictment against the SPLC announced by the Justice Department on Tuesday, such donations collected from deep-pocketed liberals "under the auspices that the funds would be used to 'dismantle' violent extremist groups ... was, instead, being used, in part, by the SPLC to pay leaders and others within these same violent extremist groups."

The SPLC allegedly poured over $3 million in such funds to field sources associated with violent extremist groups between 2014 and 2023. These money transfers were allegedly made through a series of bank accounts created in the name of fictional entities, including the Center Investigative Agency, Fox Photography, North West Technologies, and Rare Books Warehouse.

The revelation that an SPLC plant might have been involved in the Unite the Right rally would help explain why the organization was so desperate to attack the notion that the event was a "false flag" from the start.

In the immediate aftermath of the violent rally, Alex Jones reportedly accused the SPLC of hiring actors to dress up like racists and prompt a crackdown by police on the rally's legitimate attendees.

"That's the plan," Jones said. "Trigger the violence because you can't stop the legitimate speech."

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar (R) was among the others who similarly suspected something was fishy, telling Vice News in October 2017 that the rally was likely "created by the left."

The SPLC insisted that claims that the event was a "false flag" operation or that leftist infiltrators were among its organizers — Jason Kessler, the event's primary organizer, was previously an Obama-supporting Occupy protester — were ludicrous "conspiracy theories" that served only to demonstrate "the strength of the link between the conspiratorial extreme right (Jones, Infowars, Gateway Pundit, etc) and the racist 'alt-right.'"

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