Saturday, July 21, 2018

Media Fail: Vallejo Reporter Quotes The Discredited Southern Poverty Law Center

The full report from the East Bay News Group tried to shame and silence MassResistance and other pro-family conservatives and activists in the region.



I had a pretty tense interview with the reporter Katy St. Clair, who was decidedly biased in her interview with me.

Left-wing reporter
Katy St. Clair

I will go through the article which she published in the Vallejo Times Herald, then I will share what MassResistance President Brian Camenker and I confronted her about after the article was published:

MassResistance to protest, support Vice Mayor Ted Hickman at Tuesday’s Dixon City Council meeting

A “pro natural marriage” and “Biblical morality” organization known as MassResistance is organizing a demonstration for Tuesday’s city council meeting in Dixon.

Right away, there was trouble on this front. St. Clair wanted to write "anti-gay" and "anti-LGBT", but MassResistance is not afraid to fight the regressive, cultural Marxist left. I refused to tolerate such negative affirmations. I told her that MassResistance is "pro-family". She refused to write that because "gay people have families, too." The notion of family has fallen apart so quickly in our culture.

Two men cannot have a child; neither can two women. Is this complicated? Is this a controversial statement? Really?!

The purpose of the protest is to “stand up for family and liberty” and support embattled Vice Mayor Ted Hickman.

Yes.



Hickman came under fire after he penned a piece in the Independent Voice newspaper calling for “Straight Pride Month” which categorized homosexuals as “faries” (sic) and “tinkerbells.”

I don't recall the "tinkerbells" comment, but he explained what he meant by "faries." What's the matter with people?!

The article lit a firestorm of condemnation, with several hundred people showing up at the July 10 council meeting in protest. Many people took to the podium during the public comment portion of the meeting and called for Hickman’s resignation.

I was told that two hundred showed up. I am sure that more people will come down on Tuesday.

Hickman has maintained that he was only exercising his First Amendment rights.

Yes, and he has a right to do that.

MassResistance calls itself a pro-family group that “fights against the LGBT Hate machine.”

Yes, and this hate machine has bullied entire states and state legislatures along with political parties

The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated MassResistance as a hate group, and the organization’s efforts to stop anti-bullying movements have faced criticism for saying that such things “normalize homosexuality,” according to the MassResistance website.

Now comes the true failure of this article. I rebutted this nonsense at the outset of my interview with St. Clair. She told me that she had read about this. This reference just exposed how crappy the journalism has become among so many declining newspapers throughout the country.

I sent St. Clair three articles exposing the ripe, rampant failure of the SPLC, including the lawsuit which they lost to reform-minded Muslim Maajid Nawas.

This article in the National Review reported how the hate group SPLC removed the list of anti-Muslim extremists from their website.

This editorial published in The Washington Post (not the Washington Times) outlines how the SPLC has lost all credibility.

The libertarian reporter and economic advocate John Stossel exposed how the SPLC profits of their hate label, when much of the time the label is unjustified. In fact, this would-be civil rights organization is merely targeting any group with conservative views, whether on life, family, marriage, or immigration.

Even left-leaning Newsweek reported how SPLC had to apologize for their smear against Maajid Nawas. The center ended up settling the defamation lawsuit for nearly $4 million, and more lawsuits are on the way.

“I was appalled at the abuse he took just for writing out in favor of natural marriage and family,” said California Director Arthur Schaper about Hickman in a “call to action” for members and others across the state.

Schaper said that the protest will be in support of Hickman, the First Amendment, and Biblical morality.



“We conservatives are tired of the left-wing bullying against conservative men and women of conscience,” he said.

Schaper wrote an open letter to the Dixon City Council on July 15 in which he commended Hickman for speaking out against gay pride and advocating for families.

The letter will be published tomorrow (July 22, 2018) according to the reporter. Still waiting.

“He is entitled to his right to freedom of speech, and he should rest assured knowing that there are many Californians who share his views about the primary value of natural marriage and family in stark opposition to the destructive, vicious nature of the LGBT Hate (sic) machine and its overbearing political power,” he wrote.

More flawed reporting. It's almost as if the newspaper has no editors left! Notice that in this passage that she writes "LGBT Hate (sic) machine." Why is there a challenge to calling the LGBT Agenda hateful? She didn't write (sic) before in a previous paragraph. 

This is pretty bad writing.

She has a clear bias. She wants to push the pro-LGBT agenda, which is destructive to children and parents alike while undermining individual liberty and local authority.

The group “Recall Ted Hickman” will also be there on Tuesday, according to one of its organizers Heather Eckert.

Huh? They can't recall Hickman! State law prohibits a recall effort within six months after or before an election.



“We’re actually kind of shocked that they would want to disturb what had been a peaceful event,” she said. “If anyone’s going to cause any trouble, it will be the MassResistance group.”

What a sad attempt to shame a pro-family effort. 

Councilman Devon Minnema is concerned that people from outside the area could be showing up to support MassResistance.

Wow! Now we have a city councilman who is pushing lies about private citizens. When did Mr. Minnema complain about the protesters at the July 10th, 2018 Dixon City Council meeting. Many of those individuals from outside of the city, no doubt!

“Seventy-five percent of the people last time were from Dixon,” he said. “My main concern is that if these people aren’t from Dixon, it’s not the will of the constituents.”

I don't believe that. I am sure most people do not believe that.
  
Schaper described the Recall Ted Hickman protesters as a group that “stormed the city council” in a “hate storm,” though the Dixon Chief of Police Robert Thompson congratulated all involved for their peaceful assembly that had “virtually no disruption.”

I never mentioned the name "Recall Ted Hickman". Ever. I had no knowledge of this specific group at all. This is wrong.


Supporters of the MassResistance movement are asked to arrive at the meeting at 6 p.m. and bring signs in support of Hickman. The city council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Dixon City Hall, 600 East A St.

Final Reflection

I am pleased to report that more people throughout the state are supporting our efforts, including men and women in Dixon. It's pretty sad that speaking for the truth and confronting lies about biology, life, gender, and marriage.

The biggest problem, of course, among many fails in that this reporter references the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center. President Brian Camenker and I slammed the reporter for referencing the SPLC.

She refused to remove the statement, but offered me the chance to write a letter challenging her inclusion of that hate group. That is a nonsensical answer. Why did she even include the statement in the first place?

We cannot allow the liberal press to get away with these smears. We need many pro-family people in Dixon and throughout the region--and the state--to show support for Dixon Vice-Mayor Ted Hickman.

Please, for any and all who want to support Ted Hickman and Biblical Morality, please contact me at arthur@massresistance.org.


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