Tennessee anti-terrorism officials put ACLU on map of "terrorism events and other suspicious activity"

Ho ho ho: Tennessee anti-terrorist official gave the ACLU of Tennessee a hell of a Christmas present: according to them, the ACLU belongs on a map of terrorism events and other suspicious activity: "Equating a group's attempts to protect religious freedom in Tennessee with suspicious activity related to terrorism is outrageous. Religious freedom is a founding principle in our Constitution -- not fodder for overzealous law enforcement."

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Anonymous

My bet is that this is retaliation for the SPLC labeling various fundie groups as hate groups.
huntsu

Who is that quote from? It certainly doesn’t look like the Tennessee group.
billster

Click the link, and you shall see.
Dr. Pasolini

So the most charitable interpretation would seem to be that someone with limited reading comprehension skills saw the words “warns schools” in a press release and just clicked to add it to the map. Alternatively, and equally plausibly, someone reasoned “the ACLU is threatening to file lawsuits against schools that discriminate on the basis of religion; if that’s not terrorism itself, it might motivate other individuals or groups to commit acts of terrorism against these schools.”

Or, and I wouldn’t be terribly shocked to find out this is the case, someone in the security apparat in Tennessee actually does believe that the ACLU is a terrorist organization, that wants to create a socialist one-world government with black helicopters and mandatory microchiping of all humans. It’s the 27% crazification factor at work.
spincycle

Hey, Doc…I think it might just be worthwhile and appropriate to change that “27%” to “49%”…
Dr. Pasolini

Well, sure, but now we’re just haggling.

Is there an interpretation that I’m missing? Maybe there’s someone down there who’s never heard of the ACLU and assumed it was actually a terrorist organization?
pjk

the most outrageous thing about this story is: Why the hell does Tennessee HAVE anti-terrorism officials? That’s like Indiana having a naval base.
- Anonymous
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Surface_Warfare_Center_Crane_Division
  - mdh
    
    for the win
- fxq
  
  One good reason to have an anti-terrorism office in TN is to investigate militant white power groups opposed to building a mosque in Murfreesboro. Unfortunately, light skinned terrorists aren’t a priority here.
benher

Hardly surprising news from the buckle of the bible belt.
But to be fair, the ACLU has always been square in the fundie crosshairs regardless of state.
dross1260

What’s the quote about amendments and how any can be repealed?
Felton / Moderator

Here’s a link to the ACLU-Tennessee statement on the subject. They provide a link to the fusion center’s map, as well as a pdf of their letter to school superintendents.
cameronh1403

I live in Tennessee and this doesn’t surprise me in the least. Makes me wish I had settled in Colorado instead.
Kevin Kenny

You just don’t understand. Our leaders have spoken. They say the ACLU of Tennessee is a terrorist organization. Who do the ACLU people think they are, having the gall to argue with the GOVERNMENT? They should just quietly disband. Since they haven’t, they MUST be terrorists. Their leaders should be assassinated. Their followers should be sent back to Syria where they came from.

And maybe that post will save me for another day from being sent to Syria myself.
billstewart

The news article misspells the URL for the right-wing fear-mongering web site. It’s “www.globalincidentmap.com”.

Besides, we always knew that the ACLU are a communist plot to corrupt our precious bodily fluids, and this is just more evidence.
Anonymous

Where there’s less education, there’s more fear. In this case, it’s the intellect of the educated versus the intellect of the educated “leaders” of the uneducated, biased, racist, religious fanatics who think it’s the prior century and can wield their terrible swift white sword and get what they want. The uneducated cannot grasp the meaning of the constitution even though it was written in language the that masses can (allegedly) understand. The simple fact of the matter is, it’s all about hate…and the biggest haters in history and in America, are the religious amongst us. I say to right-wing Christians that you need to re-assess the teachings of the man you say you follow, because your actions are diametrically opposed to HIS (Jesus). If He were here today claiming to be “The Son Of Man” it would be these people who would re-crucify the very individual they claim is their light. Education vs hate…it’s simple as that.
brothersaul

Reading the article, looking at the ACLU response, and actually looking at the incident map, I can’t say for sure what happened here. It could be some idiot in the center thought the ACLU was some sort of terrorist thing(lord knows Fox News tries to sell it as such) or it could have been an entry error. The map is pretty poorly put together after all.

I feel compelled to point out not everyone from Tennessee is a complete twit. There are some out there to be sure. I don’t dispute that, but some of us are actually nice thoughtful people. Judging Tennessee by the schmucks that protest the Mosque or the KKK members, is kind of like thinking everyone in New York is like Andrew Dice Clay.

As to their need for an anti terrorist center, there is of course the domestic terrorism angle(White power types, survivalists, and the like) but also Tennessee also has Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge is where a lot of the material for nuclear weapons comes from. I imagine some nightmare scenarios could be written for that place.
- Anonymous
  
  It’s true that not everyone from Tennessee is a complete twit. But it really seems that everyone seeking election is. When I moved here in 2006, the big election issue was… immigration. Check your map if you’re not sure which nation borders TN.