Suspect in killings of three Baton Rouge officers

[struggle4progress]

JULY 17, 2016 4:46 PM

... Long declared himself a sovereign in records filed with the Jackson County recorder of deeds last year.

“No doubt at all,” said J.J. MacNab, an author who for two decades has been tracking anti-government extremists. “He’s 100 percent sovereign citizen.”

MacNab said Long fell into the Moorish Sovereign category, more specifically the Washitaw Nation of Mu’urs.

“This group believes that they are indigenous to the continent and therefore above all federal, state and local laws,” said MacNab, who also is a fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. “These documents show Long’s attempt to separate his flesh and blood ‘indigenous’ self from his legal entity self” ...

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article90183857.html

[mia]

1. Thank you for posting this.

What this young man did was so wrong, but it's important to know where he was coming from.

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. He said not to put him in with any group

We were told that his desire to not be lumped with any group was what prevents his accountability for being aligned with the Nation of Islam.

So I'll stick with the orders I was give earlier and won't lump him in with Sovereign Citizens.

[pnwmom]

8. He was his own sovereign citizen, in his twisted mind. He didn't have to join any group

to achieve that state . . . of mind.

[tonyt53]

27. Another damned good reason for a mental check before buying any guns.

[ReRe]

3. Uhh, what?

I might have to read up on those beliefs a while before understanding this guy. Reminds me of learning to read Shakespeare or the Bible, or learning a new language.

[StraightRazor]

4. So true...

I've been watching some of the coverage on both CNN & MSNBC and they have been so incredibly quick to throw him into the proper 'BLMesque' category so that it fits the narrative.

I wonder if we're ever going to fully understand who he was and his true motivation - or for that matter what actually happened as far as the shootings are concerned.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. The media wants a shooting war between BLM and the police,...for ratings.

[Cosmocat]

15. It is the false equivalency

that legitimizes hard right thinking.

It isn't the shooting of blacks that has set these off, it is those BLMers!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. They get everything twisted around.....

They twisted the Bible so the rich are the ones who are blessed and the poor are cursed.

[Cosmocat]

31. Its fucking perverse

I mean, it is like they take reality, facts and reason, and then state the opposition position.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

34. It's a talent they employed to claim Iraq was behind 9/11.

[ReRe]

9. I guarantee you...

... there will be books written trying to explain this guy's belief system. Watch the video that Mia uploaded. His own words are easier to understand than the news pundits.

My deep fear is that this is going to continue.

[melman]

10. There's no mystery

His motivation is very clear in his videos and on his twitter.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. These people are anti-government anti-cop fanatics....

And YES, they are on the political RIGHT.

[snooper2]

21. They are self important douchebags on the far right and the far left

I can show you some ex-hippie sovereign citizens as well as ones just like the bundy fuckers

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. I can show you hard core "progressives" who are offended at a laundromat....

They see one of the selections on the machine and say, "'Normal?' What's 'normal'?"

[SickOfTheOnePct]

22. This guy

doesn't appear to have been politically anything, left or right.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. The "Sovereign Citizen" anti-government crap is hard core, anti-tax right wing.

[Dreamer Tatum]

26. Why not look at the sect he claimed to be a part of?

I wouldn't call that right wing at all.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

29. It all goes back to right-wing thinking.....

The whole "government is the problem" cult from Saint Ronnie of the Sacred Bonzo.

[Dreamer Tatum]

30. I'm going to guess that the shooter wasn't a Reagan acolyte.

But if that helps you get through the day, OK by me.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. I bet he was all about "freedom" meaning not paying taxes and bashing "the government".

[Dreamer Tatum]

35. Golly, if only he left behind artifacts of his opinions... nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

38. ....and to think some people can't detect snark.

[SunSeeker]

7. He appears to have been driven by mental illness more than anything. nt

[JonathanRackham]

11. A lot of military veterans end up going this route.

Is the VA misdiagnosing them when they are discharged? This guy was a decorated combat veteran. There's something to be said about using our soldiers and then throwing them away.

[Lee-Lee]

13. You have anything to back that up or is this just a smear on vets?

I've probably dealt with more SC types than anyone on here and haven't seen any higher levels of the vet population than in the general population.

[JonathanRackham]

14. I've listened to the conversations in the VA waiting room

Lots of vet have lot faith in the government. Poorly treated after their service commitment was up.

[treestar]

19. why is that a smear?

It is suggesting they have PTSD and need more help when they get back.

[malaise]

23. +1,000

[Rex]

37. Bingo.

How can that not be obvious?

[Lee-Lee]

39. Because the "broken dysfunctional veteran" stereotype is growing more and more pervasive

It's the same crap Hollywood does too, either portraying the bet as out of touch or psychologically damaged anytime a character is a vet.

To imply somehow vets are more likely to fall into the sovereign citizen movement is part of that too, if done based on bias, assumptions and stereotypes without any real data or facts to back it up.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

28. Why did you immediately accuse the poster of smearing vets? Why did you do that? nt

[Rex]

36. Yes yes, you know more because why again? Oh right you say so.

Nice knee jerking there.

[Lee-Lee]

12. I arrested a Moorish Nation scumbag once

Thank god that he had a bunch of serious warrants out of MD and the DA decided to just let them have him.

[struggle4progress]

16. Details emerge about gunman's views

Matthew Teague in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Monday 18 July 2016 08.48 EDT

... In May 2015, Long filed court papers in Jackson County, Missouri, declaring himself a member of the United Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah Mu’ur Nation – a radical “Moorish” splinter group of the so-called sovereign citizens movement.

The Washitaw formed in the 1990s in Louisiana around “Emperess” Verdiacee Turner, who died in 2014. They claim that in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States bought land that wasn’t France’s to sell – land that now constitutes a 30-million acre empire ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/18/baton-rouge-police-shooting-gunman-gavin-long-victims

[struggle4progress]

17. Intense Youtube channel

BY KATIE HERRERA
MONDAY, JULY 18TH 2016

... Long legally changed his name to Cosmo Setepenra in 2015, claiming to be part of the Washitaw nation. He has an extensive online footprint under that name, including a Youtube channel. He describes himself as a freedom strategist, author and spiritual advisor ...

"If y'all want to keep protesting then do that. But the serious ones, the real ones, the alpha ones, we know what its gonna take. One hundred percent have been successful through fighting back.through bloodshed," Long said in a video ...

http://local15tv.com/news/local/baton-rouge-shooter-rented-car-after-dallas-shootings-and-drove-to-louisiana

[struggle4progress]

18. Twisted digital footprint

By Tori Bolt
Published: July 18, 2016, 7:26 am

... The domain registry information for Convos with Cosmo lists Gavin Long at his known home address as the registrant, and a law enforcement source has confirmed to NBC News that a Twitter account linked to the website is the shooter’s account ...

Long officially filed paperwork in Jackson County, Missouri, last year declaring himself Cosmo Ausar Setepenra, a “sovereign citizen” of the United Washitaw De Dugdahmoundyah Mu’ur nation, a loosely affiliated network of mostly African Americans who claim to be Native American and don’t believe the U.S. government has jurisdiction over them ...

http://counton2.com/2016/07/18/baton-rouge-shooter-left-long-twisted-digital-footprint/

[struggle4progress]

20. Washitaw Nation under investigation (SPLC 1999)

June 15, 1999

... after stints as a civil rights activist, a small-town mayor, an accused embezzler and an amateur historian, she would, she says, finally find her rightful place as supreme ruler of the ancient, 30 million-acre empire known as Washitaw De Dugdahmoundyah — the Washitaw Moorish Nation ...

... her one-time "minister of finance" has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy. Officials say her current legal advisor, a man who recently gave her a Mercedes that may have been acquired fraudulently, has a history of larceny and theft arrests. Another associate was convicted in a federal court in November on 11 counts of bank and mail fraud.

Around the country, people have been jailed for using Washitaw license plates and driver's licenses. And although charges were ultimately dropped, the empress, then going by her married name of Verdiacee Goston, was indicted in 1984 for the alleged embezzlement of $150,000 in federal funds ...

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1999/washitaw-nation-comes-under-investigation