Voters here in my homestate of Michigan really hit a new low in the attorney general department when they elected Dana Nessel last November. I wonder how many of them realized they were getting a radical leftist. Perhaps they were just trying to prove what a tolerant bunch they were by electing the first lesbian to state-wide office (- the same folks who voted for BHO for the same superficial reason).
 
Nessel began her legal career in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office but oddly enough has no real respect for the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the duly-elected president of the United States (and by extension, those who voted for him – including a majority of Michiganians) and quite possibly, even for the rule of law itself. The electorate should have paid closer attention to her various campaign utterances ~
 

• “I will sue the Trump administration, all day, every day.”
• “How about shutting down all these scam pregnancy crisis centers.”
• “I am not going to defend unconstitutional laws that are passed by the state legislature.”
• “I would like to go back to a time in our nation…where it was not legal to have assault weapons.”
• “I will absolutely not cooperate with federal authorities.”
• “Jeff Sessions, I think when he was a kid, like his father beat him with a marijuana leaf or something.
• “Have a good day, I love you, try not to get murdered at school today.”

Three months into her term, turns out Nessel is every bit the extremist her previous assertions would indicate ~ AG Nessel puts civil liberties at risk ~

[Nolan Finley- Detroit News] Combating hate crimes is a worthy endeavor. But the new campaign announced by Attorney General Dana Nessel has the real potential to morph into thought policing.
 
Nessel, in partnership with Agustin Arbulu, director of the Michigan Department of Civil rights, say they will create a process to document incidents of hate and bias that don’t rise to the level of criminal or civil infractions.
 
That could translate to speech or expressions of opinion that some may find offensive, but are protected by the First Amendment. Bias is protected by the Constitution until it infringes on the rights and freedoms of others, and hate is often in the eye of the beholder.
 
If what Nessel and Arbulu are targeting are words, thoughts and opinions, this could easily become a weapon to shut down groups they find abhorrent, but are operating within the law.

 
Sounding like a gestapo officer ~

Nessel says she’ll start her surveillance with the 31 Michigan organizations that appear on the Southern Poverty Legal Center’s (SPLC) list of hate groups.

 
Just one huge problem. These days, the SPLC itself has morphed into a hate group.
 
Not only has the organization unfairly targeted Christian and other conservative groups, those who embrace traditional family/marriage values, and anyone who tries to tell the truth about radical Islam, they also consider law firms who defend the First Amendment rights of these organizations and individuals to be hate groups. Here’s a small sampling of those they have under surveillance from my 10-27-17 post ~

• The Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the most respected Christian legal firms in the world, which has successfully argued cases before the Supreme Court and was involved in arguing the landmark Obergefell vs. Hodges
• The American College of Pediatricians, “a nonsectarian medical organization whose crime is that they publish scientific facts damaging to the ideology of identity politics.” (This organization consists of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and others.)
• The America Family Association, which for several decades has stood for family values in our nation.
• Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, which simply disseminates factual information about LGBT issues.
• Liberty Counsel, another highly respected Christian legal firm which has represented Christians in major cases across the land. (The Pacific Justice Institute, yet another fine Christian legal firm, makes it onto this same list. How dare these Christian groups defend their constitutional rights!)

SPLC leader Mark Potok even boasted at a 2007 conference (in Michigan of all places – Dana was probably in attendance!), “Our aim in life is to destroy these groups, to completely destroy them.” How noble. Here are a few more they’re watching ~

• Prager U
• Brigitte Gabriel
• Ben Shapiro
• Michael Knowles
• Dinesh D’Souza
• First Liberty Institute
• Family Research Council
• Christian Civil Rights Watch

 
As Nolan Finley at the Detroit News reports ~

One of the Michigan organizations on the SPLC list, Church Militant/St. Michael’s Media in Ferndale, is there because it advocates strict Catholic teachings on marriage and is outspoken in its opposition to abortion.
 
Nessel and Arbulu may not agree, and may find those positions personally repugnant, but the First Amendment guarantees Church Militant the right to express itself on gay marriage and other social issues, and to do so vigorously.

Now even though I’m not Catholic, I’m a regular follower of Church Militant’s articles and videos and feature them frequently on my blog. They resolutely defend the faith, and have doggedly reported on the predator priest scandals and the Lavender Mafia goings-on in the Vatican. And, as Finley continues ~

There’s no accusation that the Catholic group has ever broken the law, or committed an act of violence against those whose lifestyles it rejects. Subjecting it to a state interrogation would amount to harassing its members for their religious beliefs.

Not only has the SPLC turned into a bunch of thugs who want to bully, de-platform, subject to harassment and marginalize anyone whose worldview they don’t approve of, the organization itself is currently engulfed in scandal ~

(The SPLC) is engulfed in a scandal that is shaking it to its foundations, with charges of racial and sexual discrimination.
 
The resignation of senior attorney Meredith Horton, SPLC’s highest-ranking black woman, kicked off the controversy. Now the SPLC and its leadership are tangled in scrutiny after recently firing co-founder Morris Dees. So a group that was founded to fight racism is now being accused of it, along with the mistreatment of women.

 
And this is the detestable organization that Nessel and her ilk are using as arbiters to judge who requires surveillance for crimes against the state?!
 
I frankly don’t give a damn what her sexual proclivities are. But if Nessel’s relentless attack on free speech and traditional values continues unchallenged, Michigan will be unrecognizable in four years.

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Michigan’s lesbian AG investigating Catholic media org as part of ‘hate group’ crackdown
 
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel toes the SPLC line ~ Her reliance on an intolerant multi-million dollar institution like the SPLC demonstrates, among many other things ~

… the near fanatical devotion many of today’s Democrats have to their leftist ideology. They are devoid of any traces of decency or respect for the Constitution or the rule of law, as they leverage the power of their government positions to advance their agenda.

 
The Rise and Fall of the Southern Poverty Law Center
 
‘Highly Profitable Scam’: Southern Poverty Law Center ‘Ripping Off Donors,’ Former Staffer Says
 
The Hypocritical SPLC, the Hateful Hate List People ~

That “Hate List” may be the highest-earning public relations trick in all non-profit fund-raising. The SPLC makes a killing from donors off it, while also trying to kill off a lot of legitimate conservative people and groups. The left loves the SPLC. The media loves it, too. But now, the SPLC is showing its true colors.
 
All that liberal love is going to be a lot harder now. Its internal hypocrisy was exposed in reports published this week — from the very sources that have loved the group and made it so influential (and rich). There are only a few remaining faults that everyone still regards as sin, and hypocrisy tops that list. Which explains why even The Los Angeles Times was willing to criticize the SPLC this week.

 
Here’s a satirical take from Andrew Klavan who’s offended that he hasn’t made the SPLC Hate List 😀
 

 
Updated: 3-30-19
Added: This state’s ‘hate list’ chills free speech ~

On Friday (3-22-19), Agustin Arbulu, director of the Michigan’s Department of Civil Rights, admitted his office logs a list of “hate/bias incidences in the State.”
 
Instead of relying upon verifiable evidence, the department relies on hearsay reports from various sources including “community organizations, individuals, and media coverage.” Here, Director Arbulu expressly trusts the Southern Poverty Law Center. Likewise, Attorney General Nessel says her office plans to monitor groups based upon their designation as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center […]
 
The state’s list intentionally compels people with traditional conservative views to remain silent, to disassociate, or to act against their conscience. “Bias,” as undefined by Michigan’s list-keepers, allows an individual to accuse someone merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as offensive […]
 
For example, once someone decides to perceive a political opponent’s red hat or speech as offensive, that person can report the political opponent – landing him on the state’s list […]
 
(T)he test of a functioning moral democracy is not whether the government protects speech with which it agrees – it is whether it will protect expression it finds offensive. Instead of censuring or punishing speech, good governance always allows more speech. Michigan’s attorney general and civil rights director should cease and desist with their Orwellian folly.