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Censorship is unnecessary and undesirable in a free society.  Outside very limited, very narrow circumstances, the solution to free speech you don’t like is more free speech.  In a free society, where ideas can be fully debated, there should be no need to suppress the ideas and speech from people you don’t like.  It is understandable human nature – this desire to silence those who say things you don’t like, but in the end it only brings grief to a society that travels down the censorship path.  Today it is InfoWars and Alex Jones.  Tomorrow it will be you.

I have personal experience on this subject, both the desire to censor and the recipient of campaigns to censor.

Local hate cult leader’s speech should be ridiculed and confronted, not censored

JZ Knight claims to Channel Ramtha – a 35,000 year old warrior spirit who likes twinkies and donates big cash to Democrats. She also wants to hide her racist speeches from the public and has sued this author multiple times.

I live in Thurston County, Washington State which happens to also be the residence of JZ Knight, a local cult leader who claims to channel a 35,000 year old Lemurian homicidal warrior spirit named “Ramtha.”  Ramtha, apparently has travelled through space and time violating the laws of physics and common sense to provide colorful commentary to Knight’s followers about current events.  This commentary included racist statements about Mexicans, Anti-Semitic statements about Jews, attacks on Catholics, weird/hateful statements about gays and others.   Followers of the JZ Knight/Ramtha cult even provided video to me which included a segment where JZ Knight/Ramtha used the “N” word constantly for about four minutes while speaking to her followers.

JZ Knight was a big donor to Obama’s 2012 campaign (JZ Knight on the right, grand daughter shaking hands with Obama)

I went public with some of these videos in 2012, posting them to Youtube, Vimeo and other media platforms.  JZ Knight/Ramtha was a major financial supporter of the Washington State Democratic Party (over $70k, according to PDC records) and was on the Washington State steering committee for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign that year (she had donated $50,000 to Obama, according to FEC records).  She/it had also donated to various local Democratic candidates for office including Congressman Denny Heck, Washington State Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens, and local Thurston County Commissioner Sandra Romero.  The exposure of JZ Knight’s racist and weird speeches led, appropriately, to the Washington State Democratic Party and Congressman Heck distancing themselves from her at that time.

The public exposure of the truth was a partial solution to this ugly speech.  Not censorship.  Not hiding the truth.  Just exposing the truth. 

Former Democrat Thurston County Commissioner Sandra Romero on stage in cult compound making pitch for cash – JZ Knight seated on Left

However, the story didn’t end here.  JZ Knight has almost unlimited financial resources from her dedicated followers, including South African DeBeers heiress Rebecca Oppenheimer (who is now selling her $11 million estate designed like a UFO and leaving Thurston County and returning to South Africa).  Knight launched a blizzard of litigation against former followers in an effort to hunt down those who exposed the truth about Knight’s drunken Ramtha channeling sessions.  Additionally, she threatened Youtube and others to take down the videos – which they did.  This was my first legal interaction with the cult leader as she deposed me in one of her lawsuits in an effort to discover which of the many disgruntled followers leaked the videos.  I refused to provide any information to her, and she was forced to pay attorney fees to the Freedom Foundation (where I worked at the time) due to her abusive legal tactics.  She/it claimed that the videos were “edited” to be misleading, but when I offered to post the entire unedited segment, JZ Knight refused to allow it.  Yeah, the full segment was way worse than just the racist parts publicized.

I never called for censorship of JZ Knight, as hateful, nasty, and weird as she is.  I never will.  She can preach to her followers all she wants about the inevitable UFO apocalypse, lizard people invasion from under the glaciers of Mt. Rainier (where they apparently live), and repeat her racist hate speech.  However, that hate speech should be exposed for what it is, and while I don’t want to censor the Knight/Ramtha drama show, this 35,000 year old warrior spirit channeler has repeatedly attempted to censor any and all who dare criticize and question her weirdness.  While JZ Knight/Ramtha was no longer permitted to overtly support the Washington State Democrats, she launched a massive donation spree supporting the Thurston County Democratic Party.  Over a few years (2014-2016), she gave over $216,000 to the local Democratic Party including donations to Democrats Representative Laurie Dolan, Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall, failed Thurston County Commissioner candidate Jim Cooper, failed Thurston County Commissioner candidate Kelsey Hulse, and other failed candidates for office.

Please note:  Source documents for these donations from the Public Disclosure Commission are linked here, here, and here for Mary Hall.  Here for Jim Cooper (includes two corporations entirely controlled by Knight) .  Here and here for Kelsey Hulse. Here, here, here, here, and here for Thurston County Dems.  Here for the JZ Knight Cult PAC in 2016.  Here for Rep Dolan. Here for Justice Owens. 

Since Youtube and Vimeo were intimidated and refused to host the videos of JZ Knight’s racist hate speech, I submitted these videos to the Thurston County Commissioners, and the Olympia City Council as public records in 2014.  This way anyone who wanted to know the truth, in her/its own words, about this local racist cult leader could just make a public records request for the truth.

JZ Knight/ Ramtha wasn’t happy with this author

I was sued again by JZ Knight/Ramtha in 2014, as well as my former employer, the Freedom Foundation.  This time the lawsuit was in Federal Court.  JZ Knight attempted to make the argument that her hateful speeches and drunken rants channeling Ramtha were copyrighted material and therefore couldn’t be copied by her followers – even though she had freely broadcast the hate speeches online in 2011 and had never filed for copyright protection.  As she proceeded to lose her effort to impose a temporary restraining order and the legal case began to collapse, she predictably dropped the failing lawsuit effort in 2015. 

Again, despite the litigious and nasty nature of this hateful cult leader, I never called for her censorship.  The only position I advocated for was full transparency on what the cult leader told her followers when she thought outsiders were not looking.  This was particularly useful for the public to know because JZ Knight was the largest financial supporter of the Thurston County Democratic Party in its history – more money than any other union, or individual had ever given.

Jim Cooper and Kelsey Hulse – both were JZ Knight sponsored Democrat candidates for the Thurston County Commission in 2016

Which led to the most recent hate cult leader’s lawsuit against me in another effort to silence my speech.  In 2016, during the waning days of a contentious local election for the Thurston County Commission, I managed a few small local PACs which made robocalls about JZ Knight’s hate speech and her funding of local Democratic candidates for office.  Once again, JZ Knight wanted to silence the speech of anyone who dares to expose the truth about her.  Using her son and a few corrupt Democratic Party leaders, I am currently in court defending my 1st Amendment free speech rights once again.

Despite all this legal harassment, death threats, and attempts to censor and silence this author, I will not respond with a demand to censor the JZ Knight/Ramtha cult.  This is because free speech must be protected.  If we really believe in free speech, we should allow even the weird, conspiratorial, nut jobs to speak their minds (or even the minds of 35,000 year old warrior spirits).   They don’t deserve special protection and they don’t get the right to censor others – as much as they might try to do so, but they should be allowed to say whatever weird things they want.  Racist cult leaders like JZ Knight can also support the Democratic Party and their candidates.  That is free speech as well.  However, they deserve full exposure and confrontation by others in the true spirit of free speech.  They shouldn’t be censored.

The Left’s corporate desire to silence opposition

With the recent coordinated campaign to censor, silence, and vanish Alex Jones’ InfoWars channel by Left-leaning corporations Facebook, Google, Youtube, Twitter, etc and the celebration of this censorship by the left-leaning “mainstream” media, we are facing a real existential threat to free speech.  I am no fan of Alex Jones, and I don’t watch InfoWars videos.

However, just like I won’t support or celebrate the censorship of a nasty, racist hate cult leader who funds the Democratic Party and attempts to silence me – I also strongly oppose the censorship of Alex Jones.  Today it is Alex Jones, tomorrow it is me, the day after that it is you.

There is an understandable desire to silence critics.   For a variety of reasons, the Left identifies with this visceral need to censor all opposition, rather than debate.  The Left wants to say the debate is “settled” or that their “truth” is the only thing that matters.  They endlessly demand that all independant thought be silenced. They shout down those who disagree with them and they are willing to organize powerful corporate institutions to support this effort.  However, it is more than just a slippery slope.  It is the inevitable descent to a place of unintended consequences where only Borg-style groupthink is allowed in public and everyone else goes underground.  This is not healthy in a “free” society, and everyone should be in opposition to this Leftist campaign of silencing all who dare question.

The solution to speech you don’t like is to confront it with more speech.  Not less.  The Left must be able to defend its positions.  They should also critique the statements of others.  However, they can’t pretend their ideas are above reproach or questioning.  This is hard work, and the lazy siren call of censorship is hard to resist.  However, the 1st Amendment is worth defending.  Free speech is worth defending, even for those you despise and in particular with whom you disagree.  It is uncomfortable and ridiculous at times, but the alternative group think dystopia is not an outcome many of us want to experience.  However, this censorship path the Left wants to take right now with help from their corporate allies will not end well.

If I can support free speech for a freaky, litigious, racist hate cult leader attempting to bury the truth through litigation, and trying to silence me, then the rest of the country can put up with a few InfoWars videos they don’t like.  College students should accept conservative speakers on their campuses without melting from distant exposure to different ideas.  Debates, satire, disagreement, eccentric ideas, stupid conspiracy theories, The Communist Manifesto, MSNBC, and crazy videos can exist without the world coming to an end.  In the end, we will be a better and stronger community because of our willingness to tolerate free speech – even speech from crazy people like JZ Knight.  More speech, not less is the solution.

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OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.”  IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE.  IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT.  IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.”  UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED

Background articles (Additional Source Docs Below):

Cult leader JZ Knight fails in Federal Court

The Daily Mail – “The Jewel in their crown! De Beers heiress lists self-sustaining UFO-style home for $11 million – including beehives, chicken goops and a helipad”

Trans Radical Witch of Olympia Leads Democratic Party – Just Awesome

The Olympian (video):  Chair of Thurston County Democrats threatens to withdraw support

The Olympian – June 1 – Thurston County Democratic Chairwoman Resigns

Thurston County Democratic Party sued by AG for campaign finance violations

How Democrats ripped off “Ramtha” and wasted donor money

Former Chief of Staff Jay Manning busted by Attorney General for hiding financial documents

SPLC – Ramtha Riled article

NPR – Ramtha Channeler JZ Knight channels $54,000 into Olympia elections

Ramtha, New Age Cult Leader, Unleashes drunken, racist, homophobic rants to large following

ShiftWA – Will County Commissioner Candidates Return Racist Ramtha $?

Western Free Press – C’mon JZ Knight, how many accents does Ramtha have?

Seattle Times – State Democratic Party will donate money from JZ Knight after offensive comments

Ancient Warrior Spirit endorses Democrats

Seattle Times – Democrats again under fire over JZ Knight donations

NPR – Washington Democrats reverse course, shed JZ Knight contributions

Seattle PI – Democrats do penance for JZ Knight donations

Will County Commissioner Candidates return racist Ramtha $$?

JZ Knight Tirade Videos Submitted to Politicians she supports

The Olympian – Romero to give away JZ Knight Campaign Cash

Thurston County Dems Accept Money from JZ Knight Again

Anti-Semitic Cult Leader who channels ancient Lemurian warrior is “Democrat in Good Standing”

Supporting Documents:

Federal District Court – JZ Knight, Inc vs. Virginia Coverdale – (Case No. 16-44453-BDL , FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW)

Thurston County Democrats Campaign Finance Lawsuit – Original AG lawsuit – March 6, 2017 – Thurston County Superior Court #17-2-00972-34 (Same Document can be downloaded from this site here)

Thurston County Democratic Commissioner candidate Jim Cooper Campaign Finance Lawsuit – Original AG lawsuit – December 19, 2016 – Thurston County Superior Court #16-2-04960-34 (Same Document can be downloaded from this site here)

Thurston County Democratic Commissioner candidate Kelsey Hulse Campaign Finance Lawsuit – Original AG Lawsuit – Feb 24, 2017 – Thurston County Superior Court #17-2-00848-34

Thurston County Democratic Commissioner candidate Kelsey Hulse Campaign Finance Lawsuit – Final Settlement – March 2, 2017 – Thurston County Superior Court #17-2-00848-34 (Same Document can be downloaded from this site here)

Jay Manning/JZ Knight SuperPAC “People for Thurston PAC” – Financial Disclosure Documents (C3) filed with the PDC August 11, 2017 – shows $5,320 donation from Washington State Party (Same Document can be downloaded from this site here)

Jay Manning/JZ Knight SuperPAC “People for Thurston PAC” – Final Settlement – August 24, 2017 – Thurston County Superior Court #17-2-02568-34 

February 3, 2017 – Attorney General lawsuit against Jay Manning (Thurston superior Court)

February 9, 2017 – Jay Manning Stipulation and Agreed Judgement (Thurston superior Court)

May 10, 2017 – Jay Manning lawsuit “State of Washington, ex rel. Glen Morgan vs. Jay Manning”

Jay Manning fined $4800 by Attorney General for violating campaign finance laws

Jay Manning skates away from transparency thanks public disclosure commission

Can political insiders violate campaign finance laws with no consequences?

AG press release about Jay Manning settlement

(Full Disclosure:  Ramtha and JZ Knight sued the author in 2014 in Federal Court for providing videos of various racist tirades she/it made in previous years to her/it’s followers as part of a public record to the Thurston County Commissioners (whose political campaigns she/it funded).  Ramtha/JZ Knight claimed that the videos were selectively “edited.”  She/it refused to release a full unedited video to prove the clips were edited out of context.  Finally, she/it wisely chose to drop the hopeless lawsuit in 2015 since it was obvious all JZ Knight/Ramtha claims were bogus.  The author also filed the PDC complaints which led to AG litigation against the Thurston County Democrats, failed commissioner candidate Jim Cooper, and failed commissioner candidate Kelsey Hulse, Representative Laurie Dolan, and Senator Sam Hunt, among others.  The author was hopeful to see common sense restored to Thurston County once again despite the large sums of money spent by JZ Knight/Ramtha and supervised by Jay Manning.  Life can truly be stranger than fiction).

4 COMMENTS

  1. Yes, JZ Knight said offensive and racist things, but Alex Jones is doing more than that, isn’t he? He’s insisted that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax and he’s led a years-long harassment campaign of the families of the children murdered there, ongoing to this day: https://people.com/crime/sandy-hook-alex-jones-lawsuit-hearing This isn’t like unpopular political speech or offensive or “politically incorrect” opinions – he is leading harassment campaigns. This is different.

    • Alex, maybe you missed the part where JZ Knight has spent millions of dollars silencing all former cult members who dare to expose the truth about her weirdness, or the serial litigation she has funded against me, or perhaps the hundreds of thousands of dollars she has spent to buy the Democratic Party and cover up her racist tendencies. This doesn’t even include her weird businesses which operate like con scams, and probably will ultimately lead to further legal violations in the future. The closest thing to her cult program is the Cult of Scientology, from which she models some of her harassment campaigns against former members and critics. She/it is not harmless any more than Alex Jones is harmless. However, one person’s “harassment” campaign is another person’s crusade for the truth. You defeat these campaigns by exposing them for what they are and not trying to suppress the public’s ability to see them for what they are. Yeah, it is messy and ugly, but people will be less likely to buy into the crap when they can see what actually is happening. Now, this corporate censorship campaign is likely to make things worse by creating phony martyrs where none should exist. Confront them with the truth, don’t try to hide it.

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