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You may have heard that, early last year, the FBI issued a memo targeting Catholics—specifically “radical traditional Catholics”—that relied on the work of the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center. The FBI rushed to rescind the memo on Catholics after a whistleblower published it and The Daily Signal demanded answers. This week, the SPLC released its annual list of “hate groups” and the “radical traditional Catholic” category remains. The SPLC releases a list of “hate groups” and “antigovernment extremist groups” each year, putting the listed organizations on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. As I explained in my book “Making Hate Pay,” the list has two purposes: It’s a scam to terrify donors into ponying up cash and it acts as a defamation tool, smearing the SPLC’s political and ideological opponents. This year, the SPLC claimed to have “documented the highest number of active anti-LGBTQ+ and white nationalist groups we have ever recorded.” The topline number of 1,430 hate and antigovernment groups marks a record for the “hate map,” which began including antigovernment groups in last year’s map (covering 2022). The report accompanying the “hate map” stretches to 72 pages, but it only once explains the “radical traditional Catholic hate group” label. “For ‘radical traditionalist’ Catholics, antisemitism is an inextricable part of their theology,” the report states. “They subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics.” The report does not address the FBI memo. However, the list of “radical traditional Catholic hate groups” has one fewer entry on the 2023 “hate map.” A group called Catholic Apologetics International—which the Southern Poverty Law Center has considered a “radical traditional Catholic hate group” since 2007 and which appeared in the FBI memo—disappeared from the 2023 list to no fanfare. This change comes after The Daily Signal reported that the organization no longer exists. Michael J. Matt, whose newspaper appears on the “hate map” under the name “The Remnant/The Remnant Press,” told The Daily Signal last year that the SPLC’s list of “radical traditional Catholic hate groups” not only is egregiously false but extremely outdated. “There has been an explosion of traditional Catholic groups since Pope Benedict XVI brought back the Latin Mass. None of the new groups who are in positions of real influence are targeted in the [FBI] memo,” Matt explained in May 2023. Meanwhile, the FBI memo included many Catholic groups Matt described as “defunct.” Robert Sungenis, founder of Catholic Apologetics International, had told Matt that “the organization is done now,” Matt told The Daily Signal at the time. Although the SPLC released an updated list on June 6, 2023, that list applied to 2022. The new list, accounting for 2023, no longer includes Catholic Apologetics International, likely due to The Daily Signal’s reporting. Matt described Christ or Chaos as a “completely defunct” website run by two people. The SPLC’s updated website for “radical traditional Catholicism” quotes a February 2023 blog post from the website. Matt said E. Michael Jones, who runs the “hate group” Culture Wars, “is not a Latin Mass Catholic at all.” Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the town of Richmond, New Hampshire, is a monastery also known as Saint Benedict Center. The monastery took inspiration from the late Father Leonard Feeney, who reportedly published material warning about a Jewish conspiracy to undermine Catholicism. Saint Benedict Center’s website does not present any such antisemitic claims, however. Much of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s attack comes down to a mistaken view of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Matt argued. “The SPLC are huge defenders of the Second Vatican Council, saying the Catholic Church was antisemitic, full of hate,” he said. “So, anybody who likes the old Latin Mass, that’s just code for hate, especially antisemitism. That’s the broad brush that they paint traditional Catholics with.” The SPLC claims it doesn’t demonize all Latin Mass Catholics, but only “a small subset … whose rejection of Vatican II is rooted in antisemitism.” The SPLC has repeatedly attacked the Society of Saint Pius X, a traditional international priestly society that comprises almost 700 priests and supports the Latin Mass, accusing it of supporting antisemitism. “The SSPX also continues to reject antisemitism as anti-Catholic, as we say in no unclear terms,” SSPX Communications Director James Vogel told The Daily Signal, citing the society’s statement on antisemitism. The FBI discovered “radical traditional Catholics” because a convicted felon whom the FBI had been monitoring due to his threats of violence attended a traditional Catholic church. Had the SPLC found any connection between this individual and the “radical traditional Catholic” groups, it likely would have trumpeted that connection in the report on 2023 “hate groups.” By the SPLC’s logic, any Catholic organization dedicated to the official teaching outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church could be considered a “hate group.” The Southern Poverty Law Center branded the Ruth Institute an “anti-LGBTQ+ hate group” in part because its founder, Jennifer Roback Morse, called homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered,” pulling a direct quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In doing so, the SPLC implied that the official teaching of the Catholic Church is “hateful” enough to brand an organization preaching it an “anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.” The Ruth Institute remains on the SPLC’s 2023 “hate map.” The SPLC’s “anti-LGBTQ+ hate group” label inspired a terrorist attack in 2012, when a gunman used the “hate map” to target the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. The SPLC also faces a defamation lawsuit from one group on its “hate map,” and a judge has allowed that lawsuit to enter the discovery process. Perhaps the Southern Poverty Law Center will remove even more of the “radical traditional Catholic hate groups” from the list next year. If so, it likely will “find” more “anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups” to keep the numbers up. After all, the SPLC leadership wouldn’t want donors to think the organization is actually effective at decreasing “hate” across the U.S., would they? The post The FBI Stopped Targeting ‘Radical Traditional Catholics.’ The SPLC Didn’t Get the Memo. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Youngkin Pulls the Plug on Virginia's EV Mandate

On Wednesday, The Lead with Jake Tapper tried to argue that Hunter Biden held no liability for lying on his federal Firearm Transaction Record form because of how far “gone” on drugs he allegedly was when he bought his gun in 2018. Victoria Nourse, former Chief Counsel for the then-Vice President Joe Biden, leaned on two statutes which would lead to the same outcome where Hunter Biden is found not guilty. Nourse alluded to the Fifth Circuit which concluded that disarming a sober citizen based primarily on past drug usage violated the Second Amendment.     In Biden’s memoir, he wrote about his addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol which indicates that he may have lied about his eligibility to own a firearm. Prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury on Tuesday that all of the evidence for this case was primarily in Biden’s book as he observed, “The book will show he was addicted to crack before, during and after his possession of the gun.” Biden’s own family members feared the gun being in his possession. Tapper noted how members of the jury have stated that they or somebody they know has been affected by addiction. He asked Tim Parlatore, CNN Legal Commentator, if these jurors could be effective when it comes to Biden’s defense. He answered, “I think it is going to be very effective. They may have personal experience with understanding this.” In regards to the prosecution, Tapper noted that they were trying to so how cognitively incapable he was to possess a firearm. “He didn't even get his private dance that obviously the prosecution is trying to make that point, like, look at how messed up he was or whatever,” he said. Parlatore warned that “if they lean too hard into all of his drug use and everything else, they undermine whether he was able to form the requisite criminal intent at the time.” But criminal intent is not always needed. Drunk drivers often don’t have the ability to think clearly before they get behind the wheel, and they’re still held liable for driving under the influence. And as CNN has previously reported, the prosecution was accusing Biden of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs. Click "Expand" to view the transcripts: CNN's The Lead With Jake Tapper 6/5/2024 4:13:01 p.m. Eastern JAKE TAPPER: Let's turn to the Hunter Biden case. [HUNTER BIDEN’S EXES DETAIL HIS PAST DRUG USE] The defense from Hunter Biden's lawyer today appear to be, yes, he is an addict and, yes, he did drugs that year in 2018. But they say the prosecution has not proved that Hunter was on drugs when he bought the gun and filled out that paperwork saying that he was not using drugs. Is that an effective defense, you think? VICTORIA NOURSE (FORMER CHIEF COUNSEL FOR THEN-VP JOE BIDEN): Well, yeah. I mean, there are two different statutes here, and one of them says that you know this is the one that was struck down in the Fifth Circuit, says, you know, it doesn't matter what he what he thinks. But the other statute says you have to know that you're deceiving the gun dealer, and on that, it will matter as to what whether he said at the time “oh, yes, did I know that I was using drugs,” et cetera. I think they say he was misusing alcohol at the time. And just in the Fifth Circuit case, that individual confessed, I've used marijuana 14 times, then that court struck down the law is unconstitutional because you can't prevent someone from possessing a gun under the Second Amendment, just because they have used alcohol or drugs in the past. TAPPER: And the -- apparently, I'm not in the courtroom, but apparently, there are members of the jury who have been touched by addiction. I guess most of us probably know somebody, either a friend or family member who's been -- who's been affected by addiction, could that be effective when it comes to his defense, Hunter Biden's defense? TIM PARLATORE (CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR): I think it is going to be very effective. And you're right, you know, today there are very few people to find 12 jurors who haven't been touched by addiction. It, it -- that would not be a jury of your peers. Yeah, that'd be a highly selected. TAPPER: Right. PARLATORE: And so, you know, these jurors will understand the type of struggles that Hunter Biden went through. They may have personal experience with understanding this. And the problem the prosecution has is if they lean too hard into all of his drug use and everything else, they undermine whether he was able to form the requisite criminal intent at the time. So, you know, the prosecution I think needs to in some ways, throttle back because they're kind of playing into the idea of, you know, they can't prove it that he was doing it at this time. So they're piling it on before the piling-- TAPPER: So, there's an intent? PARLATORE: There is. NOURSE: Yes. TAPPER: So there is an intent. So that's interesting. So when the stripper -- I forget her name, I apologize -- but went the stripper testifies that he was so addicted to crack, he didn't even get his lap dance. I'm sorry. This is salacious, but this was the testimony today. He didn't even get his private dance that obviously the prosecution is trying to make that point, like, look at how messed up he was or whatever but -- NOURSE: That's not a criminal offense and you can't criminalize just mere -- being an addict. Supreme Court decided that case a long time. TAPPER: Right, but the point you guys are both making, which is like if he is that gone, although I don't know the defenses arguing that he doesn't even know he's deceiving the government when he lies on that form. NOURSE: That's one -- that's one argument. The other argument is that maybe it wasn't crack. It with some other outcome, alcoholism. TAPPER: Or it was alcohol. NOURSE: Which was not covered by the statute. PARLATORE: It makes it very difficult and then a lot of -- a lot of dealers, gun dealers, that is, when they give you the form, they say, hey, fill out your information at the top and check note all these things. TAPPER: Right. PARLATORE: Because I've seen plenty of people that they just go and check and they don't even read it. If you're an addict or somebody who's using drugs, that increase the likelihood that you did that. So, only goes to further undermine that he intentionally violated the law here. TAPPER: I've heard Republicans say that this is not a good case, even Republicans, that the tax case might be a better case in California. But this one -- NOURSE: Well, even Congressman Gowdy said that if you're an ordinary person, you would never be charged in a federal court with this. There are 37 million, you know, gun owners. PARLATORE: Yes. NOURSE: And they've all filed these forums, and are we going to go back and try to investigate all 37 billion of them? No. So I do think that this is not the kind of strong case that you would ever expect to be brought. But, of course, he is the president's son. TAPPER: Indeed. (...)