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The organizer of the third annual liberty festival, Freedompalooza, is experiencing some scheduling difficulties due to behind the scenes pressure designed to scuttle the conference. Several confirmed speakers have notified the primary organizer of the festival that they they wish to be removed from the speaker list. The reason for canceling is that they have been advised that the organizer holds what are considered controversial views relating to historical matters that involve events said to have occurred over 70 years ago—matters that have nothing to do with the freedom event.
How this incident unfolded provides a glimpse into how aligned Jewish groups infiltrate the online patriotic community to censor politically-incorrect views and further their agendas.
Paul Topete, lead singer of the patriotic rock band PokerFace, has received several cancellation notices since Larry Pratt, the Executive Director of Virginia-based Gun Owners of America (GOA), asked Mr. Topete to scratch his name off the list.
Paul describes this and more in this interesting interview, (17:40).
Dave Gahary, a former submariner in the U.S. Navy, is the host of AFP’s ‘Underground Interview’ series.
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Freedom Festival Hamstrung by the Holocaust
• Previously committed speakers dropping out over alleged event
The organizer of the third annual freedom festival Freedompalooza is experiencing scheduling difficulties as previously confirmed speakers are notifying him that they wish to be removed from the speaker list, all citing an event that was alleged to have occurred over 70 years ago. How this incident unfolded provides a glimpse into how aligned Jewish groups infiltrate the online patriotic community to censor politically-incorrect views and further their agendas.
Paul Topete, lead singer of the patriotic rock band PokerFace, who is the main organizer of the festival, has received a steady stream of cancellation notices since Larry Pratt, the Executive Director of Virginia-based Gun Owners of America (GOA), asked Mr. Topete to scratch his name off the list.
In an email sent to Topete on June 19, Pratt wrote:
Hi Paul,
It has been brought to my attention that you are alleged to have called the Holocaust a myth. Am I correctly informed?
Larry Pratt Gun Owners of America
Following Topete’s email reply, where he politely explained his position on this alleged historical event, a final, curt message was received that said:
Paul,
Please remove my name from the list of participants. I will not be attending.
Larry
What precipitated Pratt’s email is not known, as Topete never inquired who it was that brought this to Pratt’s attention, but it may be no coincidence that on the same day Pratt questioned Topete’s views of the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), run by Soviet-born Jew Abraham H. Foxman, released a 599-word screed posted “Anti-Semitism, Extremism & Terrorism” on their website entitled Anti-Semites And Extremists To Host “Freedompalooza 2013” On July 4th Weekend, which stated in part:
White supremacists, anti-Semites, anti-government extremists and conspiracy theorists are among speakers scheduled to appear at “Freedompalooza 2013,” organized by Paul Topete, lead singer of the band Pokerface and an anti-Semite and anti-government extremist.
Topete has lined up a long list of bands and speakers, many of the latter coming from extremist and fringe movements and causes. One theme that unites many speakers is virulent anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment.
The ADL post goes on to say that “the primary sponsor (and promoter) of the event is the American Free Press, the anti-Semitic and conspiracy-oriented newspaper published by long-time white supremacist Willis Carto,” and then names some of the attendees with added commentary, including Cynthia McKinney, James Traficant, Jim Condit, Jr., Merlin Miller, several American Free Press writers, Cynthia Steele, Oath Keepers, the Appleseed Project, Larry Pratt, and Sheriff Jeff Christopher, whose “battle with the state of Delaware over that state’s decision to eliminate the arrest powers of its three county sheriffs has been much promoted by the American Free Press and other right-wing sources.”
Following Pratt’s email, Topete was notified that same day by a Pennsylvania spokesperson for Oath Keepers, that “[g]iven Mr. Topete’s Holocaust denial views, neither I nor Oath Keepers supports, endorses, or will be participating in Freedompalooza and I must respectfully request that any reference to my name (Mike Williams) and Oath Keepers be removed from Freedompalooza’s web site as well as any associated media.”
Oath Keepers then contacted another scheduled speaker, Sheriff Jeff Christopher, who sent Topete the following on June 24:
Greetings Paul, pursuant to letters from the board of the CSPOA and meetings between that board and the board of the Oath Keepers organization, it will be necessary to request that you remove me from your list of speakers, as it will go against the wishes of those boards upon which I sit. It seems that there are some concerns as to the beliefs your organization holds that stand in opposition of my beliefs as well as those who have been supportive of my situation here in Delaware. I respectfully request that you pull me from your list of speakers and involvement in your event.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
Sheriff Jeff Christopher
Sussex Co Sheriff, DE
On June 25, the founder and President of Oath Keepers, E. Stewart Rhodes, contacted the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), founded by Jewish activist Morris Seligman Dees, Jr., which published a June 24 691-word “hit piece” entitled Neo-Nazi Views of Freedompalooza 2013 Host Roil Pennsylvania Event, on their Hatewatch Blog, under “Anti-Semitic, Antigovernment, patriot” sections, which stated in part:
Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, June 25, Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers, wrote Hatewatch to say that he had spoken to another scheduled speaker at Freedompalooza 2013, Delaware Sheriff Jeff Christopher. Rhodes said Christopher cancelled his appearance after learning of its organizer’s Holocaust denial views.
Curiously, the SPLC considers Oath Keepers to be an “Antigovernment ‘Patriots’” “conspiracy-spinning ‘Constitutionalist’” group, but will apparently use the views of this group to further their aims and agendas.
Digging further into how the cancellation transpired, it is clear that on the same day the ADL released their “hit piece” online, a message board on the Fresno, California-based website FreeRepublic.com, which touts itself as “The Premier Conservative Site on the Net!,” allowed a thread to be started by a poster calling him/herself Sakic, who, claiming to be “a child of two Holocaust survivors,” entitled the post “What’s the Deal With Larry Pratt?”
Several replies to Sakic’s post followed, including one from Jason Weiser, the Assistant to the Director of Communications for the GOA, and one from Pratt himself.
The smart money says that Sakic is a cyber-asset of the ADL and the SPLC, who have a long history of working together against pro-American groups, and it was Sakic’s job to “innocently” spread the information on a website that may be utilized as some sort of controlled opposition forum. It may be no coincidence then, that FreeRepublic is based out of Fresno, the birthplace of Rhodes, and also home to a sizable Jewish community.
In the span of one week, the concerted effort of a few individuals writing just over a thousand words on a few websites were able to scuttle the plans of a patriotic American only interested in getting the truth out. It may be time for true patriots to take notice of Freedompalooza, especially the attention it’s been drawing from certain quarters.
Lost in all this is the fact that the festival has nothing to do with his Topete’s views and the irony of speakers cancelling their appearances at an Independence Day celebration because of an issue tied to free speech and thought, which lends credence to Topete’s belief that the United States is under the control of Jewish groups.
