The 'church' is perhaps best known for its strong opinions on parking.
Fred Phelps'
FBI files have been released:
Fred Phelps, founder of he staunchly anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, had a long and contentious relationship with the FBI, according to the late pastor’s newly released 250-page bureau file.
Phelps, who died in March 2014 at age 84, was known best for leading protests at funerals to highlight the church’s crusade against homosexuality. [...]
The FBI's first mentions of Phelps occurred in 1967, when a confidential informant told the bureau that Phelps was “in need of psychiatric care.”
An opinion that would prove well-justified over the next five decades.
Not all of the material was related to Phelps' own actions or actions by his "church": The group has been a frequent target of threats over the years, necessitating FBI investigations into some of those threats. The agency did keep the group itself under at least sporadic watch.
The FBI kept tabs on several Westboro protests and counterprotests over the years, often interviewing informants in the various states in order to determine whether the group could potentially become violent. In each case, the FBI found no reason to believe it would. Phelps had been quoted as saying that he didn’t believe in violent strategies.
Anyway, he's dead now, which is the single best thing he ever did for anyone.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—Bigots in disarray: National Organization for Marriage declares war on Republicans:
As marriage equality continues to spread across the country, the bigots are becoming so desperate, they're even declaring war on each other! Yes, the Republican Party still officially believes in protecting the sanctity of Newt Gingrich's three marriages. That's why the party included its bigotry in the party platform in 2012—for which Tony Perkins, president of the hate group Family Research Council, personally takes credit.
But that's not good enough for the National Organization for Marriage because it turns out, even some Republicans can read the writing on the wall. And the writing says marriage equality is coming, and the bigots have lost. So NOM has issued this laughable threat:
NOM will do everything in our power to defeat any Republican who votes in favor of same-sex marriage. Legislators need look no further than what happened to GOP Senators in New York. Four of them were responsible for passing gay marriage. We helped take out three of those Senators by repeatedly informing their constituents of their betrayal on marriage. They are now out of office. We will not hesitate to do the same thing in Minnesota. |
True, equality is tougher for Republican politicians to sell to their constituents because, well, Republicans still don't want to accept that it's not the 18th century anymore.
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show: 69% of Rs don't think Obama loves America. GunFAIL on Fruit of the Loom Drive.
Greg Dworkin rounds up polling news on Walker. Ehrlich has started showing up in NH. Hey, we're "just asking" the "Is Obama Christian?" question. Will Walker's record matter? Can Rubio get back in the game? Closure on the
Toronto Star HPV story. NV legislator infamous for "young, hot little girls" remark goes full d3Rp. The Glenn Beck's chalkboard version of the latest BillO bomb.
Joan McCarter brings us back to reality, with the Gop's DHS disarray, the Bibi debacle, what comes after
King, and the Senate parliamentarian says no to repeal through reconciliation.
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