In an open attempt to besmirch the reputation of Rep. David Eastman for his membership in Oath Keepers, Alaska House Majority Leader Chris Tuck (D-Anchorage) held a hearing in the House Military Affairs Committee on Feb. 10. For two hours, Tuck presided over a hearing, with the aim of casting the 30,000-plus member Oath Keepers and similar organizations as purveyors of dangerous political conspiracies, domestic terrorism and white supremacist ideas.
As background, last month, 11 Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, incident at the U.S. Capitol. Rhodes maintains his innocence, and says that the small handful of Oath Keepers who entered the Capitol had gone off mission. His trial is set for this summer.
Leftist activists, spearheaded by the Marxist-inspired Party for Socialism & Liberation-Anchorage, are now pressuring Alaska House leaders to expel Eastman as a state legislator.
In seeking to punish Eastman, Rep. Tuck and House Speaker Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak) led a mostly Democratic effort to strip Eastman of his five committee memberships last week. While that ploy failed on the House Floor, Tuck has doubled down, and is now holding a series of so-called “informational” hearings to disparage Oath Keepers, militias in general, and their conservative members.
The Feb. 10 meeting began with a lengthy presentation by Alex Friedfeld of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. The organization promotes abortion, the most radical elements of the LGBTQ agenda, critical race theory ideology and much more. It also construes many bedrock conservative values as dangers to democracy.
Friedfeld began by characterizing militia organizations as right-wing conspiracy groups that have an unhealthy fixation on gun rights and suspicions about the government. He claimed most militia’s include white supremacists, but had to acknowledged that these groups do admit people of all races and therefore couldn’t be technically construed as classical white supremacists. That said, he then insinuated that militias have racist leanings because many oppose illegal immigration and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Friedfeld proceeded to give his take on the history of modern-day militias. While presenting his invited testimony as though it were mere fact, Friedfeld interjected his belief that militias are “deeply concerning” and pose a threat to national security.
He said militias gained considerable members during the Obama administration, due to concern that the president would advance a socialist agenda. During the Trump years, he said militias focused more on Islamic terror threats, the border crisis and Antifa.
Amid Covid lockdown protests and Black Lives Matter marches , he said militia members attended many events with the stated aim of providing security. In Friedfeld’s estimation, however, they were really there just to “stare down leftists.”
Friedfeld dismissed conservatives’ concerns that governments might use Covid mandates to take away personal liberties, calling such claims unfounded conspiracies employed to increase militia membership.
Turning his attention to the last two years, Friedfeld said he was disturbed that so many militia members cast doubt on the validity of Biden’s election. Such actions, he said sow distrust in government, which he finds “deeply disturbing.”
Apart from a few individual bad actors, Friedfeld offered scant evidence of actual violent actions taken by militias or their members over the past 20 years. Instead, he accused them of generally undermining the government with their ideas, and making the use of violence seem more “reasonable.”
Friedfeld did mention a group of 13 members from a Michigan-based militia who were suspected in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. While this group had no ties to Oath Keepers, Friedfeld insinuated a connection by asserting that Oath Keepers “generally believe all the same conspiracies as the other militia movements.”
Friedfeld noted that Oath Keepers attracts law enforcement officers, emergency responders, government officials and military service members, a fact he finds problematic because it “greatly undermines civilian trust in these institutions.”
He also took issue with the Oath Keepers’ emphasis to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” as well as its members’ refusal to obey what they see as unconstitutional laws. Friedfeld characterized this as an “extremist” position that only serves to undermine faith in government, the chain of command and the belief that government can and will police itself.
Towards the end of his presentation, Friedfeld expressed concern about the Oath Keepers’ role in several events. This includes the 2014 standoff between ranchers and federal authorities at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada, two standoffs with authorities in Oregon and Montana in 2015, and two other instances in which Oath Keepers offered to protect the residents of Ferguson in 2014 and 2015. While none of these instances resulted in violence by Oath Keepers, Friedfeld opined about what “could potentially” have unfolded since some of the Oath Keepers were armed. He said it was “not hard to imagine people getting hurt” in these situations, adding that Oath Keepers attended these events “armed with their guns and their biases.”
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John Lewis, of George Washington University, gave the second presentation in which he basically summarized the federal government’s allegations against the Oath Keepers who have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Of the 736 people charged with some crime, Lewis noted that 26 were Oath Keepers, 11 of whom were charged with seditious conspiracy and who are awaiting trials later this year.
Lewis failed to note that Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes maintains his innocence, as does the organization.
A statement from the Oath Keeper website, which Lewis did not mention states the following:
The media has attempted to paint this organization as an extreme right wing anti-government militia. This is as far from the truth as you can get, we swore an oath to the Constitution, The Supreme law of the land that establishes the United States as a Republic. We have sworn our service to the Republic of the people by the people for the people. Every citizen of this country no matter political party, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, skin color or wealth level have equal rights under the law. These rights given to us by our creator and guaranteed protected from any government against infringement. Our oath is to the founding principles that established our great Union of Sovereign States. We will always stand on the side of equality and the Bill of Rights.
Tuck plans to continue his Oath Keepers probe with another hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 15. He said he has tried to find an Oath Keeper representative to speak on the organization’s behalf, but so far no one has agreed to participate in his hearings.
26 Comments
Representative Cuck is desperately trying to hold off the inevitible where the Pelosi gang and her big lie is arrested for the treason and plot of Jan 6. It aint happening. All will be revealed.
As soon as I hear of an allegation of white supremacy. I know it is propaganda.
Just like the one confed. flag with the trucker convoy.. there are agents to undermine a call for getting back to America’s basics, Liberty, freedom, and the pursuit towards happiness.
-Primate feces flinger..
I watched the whole One Sided painful Omitting information Farce. Never admitted that 13 out of the 28 Planers of the Whitmer kidnapping were FBI AGENTS or Informants. Did not explain that Head Oathkeeper Rhodes was Charged with sedition a year after January 6th, to prevent him from being called as a witness for the defendants in the January 6th cases. Now he can only Plead the 5th. Watch. Then DOJ will Have to Drop his sedition charges soon after. Those are only two of many omissions that the Democrat Government is using to cover it’s involvement in November 3rd and January 6th. Oh yeah, Crazy Nancy Had to allow/ encourage (how many FBI??) the violence on January 6 th to prevent the next 24 hours of testimony about Election Integrity in Swing States. Convenient how they were So distraught the they returned and Immediately Certified the Dirty Election.
One way to cover your own back side is to place blame on the others. We all did this as children. Some like Representative Tuck and the democratic party haven’t grown up yet and are still doing this! It’s time to play fair and let it go.
The Oath Keepers are all just that military, police, fire fighters etc… they’re all good people and tge first you all call first when in trouble or did something stupid!
The only extremist I see here is this fellow, Friedfeld. How old is he anyway? He looks like he’s fresh out of indoctrination college. He learned well, as he has all the leftist buzzwords down pat. But he failed to get the memo that the plot to kidnap “Witchmore” was just another set up by the FBI to entrap that rare object, a “white supremacist”. Meanwhile, the real terrorists, antifa and BLM, continue on their path of destruction through our American cities.
MF, judging by the photo, Friedfeld appears young enough to have all his faculties. Instead of making thoughtless comments about him on the web, why not prove yourself and ask him in a manly way to a public debate! Nah, you say? I thought so!
I’m sure that you have followed your own advice.. Nah.. Point out the “thoughtless” comments for us.
Limping Lobo, you’re dragging your hind legs like a dying wolf. Lone Lobo, my ass, why you daren’t venture out without your sorry pack! Hobo Lobo! Who does the thinking for you? Donald “the John” Trump! Why, he alone does the thinking for you and your pathetic pack!
A.N. you say that Friedfield appears to have all of his faculties? Huh, apparently reasoning isn’t amongst them as he made a comment about “first responders” willingness to defend the Constitution against enemies both foreign and DOMESTIC being unsettling to people and causing them to lose their faith in their government? I submit that it is exactly this willingness that keeps the government from absolute corruption. And yes this guy is a punk kid without any real measure of experience.
You seem to be afraid of intelligent people.
Another good article, Joel Davidson. As always, my observation is that very few fellow lawmakers speak out in support of a member who is obviously unjustly maligned. Maybe they are afraid that everyone will perceive them to be in agreement with everything that person does. For fellow lawmakers to NOT speak out in support of a person’s, any person’s, constitutional rights is cowardly. David Eastman is a man of honor as his past has proved and he is standing for many Republicans in Juneau who are afraid to stand for themselves.
The only danger to Democracy here is the leftist mob and democrat leaders pushing this NWO agenda. This country was founded on liberty and constitutional law – Thea militias, believe in the limits of government and freedom of the people. When will we as Alaskans wake up and remove these a$$holes. Critical race theory is racist, China Joe stole the election, Marxism is the real threat to liberty, and god bless our militias – and those who will die defending our constitution.
Well Joel, though your headline implies otherwise, militias are nascent or proven domestic terrorists. There will come an event where one of these cosplay adolescents gets pissed at some liberal and the shooting will begin. And then like the counter productive Canadian truckers gripe, the event will become a rallying point, a bucket where all the contrived gripes of the anti-intellectual far right can go to bitch. And shoot some more.
“[H]e accused them of generally undermining the government with their ideas” … Thought crimes.
“[T]he belief that government can and will police itself”… Literally no sane person believes this!
Our Founders had a much different idea as it relates to Liberty , review Jefferson’s thoughts regarding, was it Shay’s rebellion? Any way the totalitarians will always advance the notion that any dissent apart from their script is Treason.
The leftist mumbo jumbo words-you could just put up a list and check each word off as each of them speak. It’s painful to continue to see the attacks of these socialists who hate what
America stands for.
It’s painful to watch. You can just
Put up a list of leftist trigger words-they all use them. Then as they speak-check the words off one by one. The do not
Align with what our Country was founded on.
This is down to the bone GOOD Vs Evil…..rise and defend our Nation.
Interesting and predictable that Tuck would call in a representative from the “Anti-Defamation League” to “Defame” Representative Eastman and an organization devoted to supporting the Constitution. Apart from this circus act spectacle part deux, at something around 30 days into the session, what has been accomplished?
The ADL has become a radical, extreme leftist organization It was actually founded on the basis of defending the memory of the murderer of a 13 year old girl by Leo Frank, who, when it appeared he would not suffer the consequences, was lynched by citizens. The lynching was evil and should never have happened, but it doesn’t make the ADL a noble organization. Much like Planned Parenthood, it is an organization with an extremely immoral foundation. Oath Keepers, on the other hand, are sworn to defend the Constitution; a document the left has come to hate. This is why they will do anything to counter the Oath Keepers.
Gottschalk,
My apologies, you are so right! I should have said, Friedfeld SOUNDS like he’s “fresh out of indoctrination college,” instead. And it’s not possible for me to ask him for a “manly debate,” because I’m a woman and proud to say it. I’m shocked that you would use the term “manly”. I’m pretty sure that adjective has been scrubbed from the leftist vernacular.
MF, there is no need for apologies, nor should you feel shocked. So the world turns! And I mustn’t be so presumptuous. Thank goodness, you aren’t like Lady Macbeth! (Yes, that in itself is a presumptuous statement!)
MF, John J. Otness, Lobo, and JH,
I have humiliated myself suckling at the “dugs of wrath” and I best leave here while I yet have some sense of decency. I apologize for my bar room “musings.” In finally exiting this site let me say for what it’s worth that I found Flannery O’Connor’s novel “The Violent Bear It Away” a thoughtful read. Do have a pleasant time this summer.
If our current lawmakers will not stand up against private lynchings then they must go ,its called corruption. Friedfeld soinds likeanother punk kid in an influential position that belongs to and supports radical groups while calling other groups radical.
Time too take a check! on who looks like controlling people..uhm!
wouldn’t be our democrats and or republicans..? and or other groups…
Seems like??? they get up in ranks! and then it goes to their heads! and
now they controlling! Talk about Groups!!!?
Awesome! Paint militas as hate groups, but embrace and support BLM and antfa as peaceful fun-loving groups. /s