"This is the start of a revolution..."

While I'm sure many of you have already heard about the seeming assassinations of two police officers in a Las Vegas CiCi's Pizza on Sunday, June 8, here's recap of the highlights for those of you living under a rock. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports:

"A law enforcement official who has been briefed on the incident said an officer — unconfirmed reports indicate it was Soldo — was refilling a soft drink when the female shooter approached him from behind and shot him in the head, killing him instantly.

"The woman then shot the other officer several times as he drew his pistol. Gillespie said the officer was able to return fire but it was unclear if he hit anyone.

"One officer was reported dead at the scene, while the other died later in surgery at University Medical Center.

"Witnesses told police one of the shooters yelled 'This is the start of a revolution' before shooting the officers. Gillespie later said he could not confirm that.

"The shooters then stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and badges, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. They then covered the officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, 'Don’t tread on Me.'

"The flag is named for Christopher Gadsden a Revolutionary War general who designed it. It has recently come back in vogue as an adopted symbol of the American tea party movement.

"The shooters left the pizza parlor and headed into the Wal-Mart across the street at 201 North Nellis. Witnesses at the scene reported hearing shots fired in quick succession inside the Wal-Mart.

"At a news conference at about 1 p.m. Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the male shooter, described as a tall white man, yelled “everyone get out” before shooting.

"One unconfirmed report is that the two exchanged gunfire with a citizen who was carrying a concealed weapon, and that one of the shooters was injured.

"A woman was shot and killed just inside the front doors of the Wal-Mart. Her name has not yet been released.

"As Metro officers entered the front and back doors of the store they exchanged gunfire with the shooters, Gillespie said.

"The female shooter then shot her accomplice at least once before shooting herself in the head, a law enforcement official said. The wounded man then shot and killed himself. Their identities have not been released by police."

The details that have emerged concerning the shooters are naturally bizarre and include indications of Nazi sympathies in addition to a fondness for Peter Pan on the part of the male shooter. Continuing with the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

"The shooters were a married couple thought to be in their late 20s who were new to the Las Vegas Valley, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation. Police are looking into their links to the white supremacy movement and found swastika symbols during their initial investigation.

"Residents of the Bruce Street apartment complex gathered outside the building to talk about the couple whose unit was being searched.

"Several neighbors identified the man as Jared, while one called the woman Amanda.

"Like many of the neighbors contacted, Krista Koch said she didn’t know the couple’s last names. She described them as 'militant.' They talked about planning to kill police officers, 'going underground' and not coming out until the time was right to kill.

"Brandon Monroe, 22, has lived in the complex for about two weeks. He said the man who lived in the apartment that was being searched often rambled about conspiracy theories. He often wore camouflage or dressed as Peter Pan to work as a Fremont Street Experience street performer. A woman lived with him, Monroe said, but he didn’t see her as often.

"They were weird people, Monroe said, adding that he thought the couple used methamphetamine.

While it has yet to be confirmed, it seems highly likely that the as-yet-unnamed couple were in some way involved with the so-called "sovereign citizen" movement, which has also adopted the Gadsden flag as its symbol of late. There have also been reports that the Las Vegas couple was involved in the Bundy ranch standoff for a time before being booted off the ranch, but the Bundys have steadfastly denied these allegations. Beyond the alleged Bundy ranch ties and the Gadsden flag, various groups and individuals involved with the sovereign citizen movement have long contemplated the targeted assassinations of politicians, law enforcement officers and other government agents, as we shall see.

If this Las Vegas couple were indeed involved with the sovereign citizen movement, then their Sunday shooting spree would not be the only terror attack by a sovereign citizen committed over this past weekend. On Friday, June 6, another individual described as a sovereign citizen adherent attempted an assault on a courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia that did not amount to much.

a scene from the Atlanta incident

Nor would this be the only sovereign citizen plot in the last year hatched in Las Vegas to assassinate police officers. Another couple Las Vegas couple was arrested late last summer for conspiring to abduct, torture and kill police officers. The USA Today reported:

"A sting operation stopped a plot to abduct, torture and kill police officers to bring attention to the antiauthority sovereign citizen movement, Las Vegas police said Thursday.

"David Allen Brutsche and Devon Campbell Newman were arrested at an apartment a few miles off the Vegas Strip before they could carry out a plan to snatch officers, 'put them on trial' and execute them in a vacant house, Las Vegas police Lt. James Seebock said."

Brutsche (left) and Newman (right)

Peter Pan has been presented by some conspiracy researchers as symbolic of an elite pedophile network. The above-quoted USA Today article also noted that Brutsche was a six time convicted felon and child sex offender in the state of California, though few details have come out concerning his criminal background. But I digress.

These recent incidents are not the first time Las Vegas has been home to a conspiracy to assassinate law enforcement and government personnel by self-described patriot groups. Las Vegas was also a key outpost of Colonel William Potter Gale's Committee of the States. Gale, who I've addressed at length before here, was a "former" military intelligence officer who effectively created the Posse Comitatus, the movement from which both the modern day militia and sovereign citizens groups derive much of their ideology from. The Committee of the States was effectively a vigilante organization that believed it was restoring Constitutional law.

"Though Gale denied he played a prominent role in the Committee of the States, he invented it and inspired its members to plot violence. Gale inaugurated the Committee on September 6, 1982, with a sermon from the pulpit of the Ministry of Christ Church, explaining how patriots should take control of the federal government. Like his original Posse manifesto, The cornerstone of Gale's plan was an 'indictment' charging that Congress had 'unlawfully' delegated power to the Federal Reserve; 'treasonously' appropriated money 'towards the support of alien and foreign governments'; and unconstitutionally ordered American troops into battle on behalf of the 'International Jewish Banking Conspiracy.' After detailing these and other transgressions, Gale presented his solution:

"'[Members of Congress] are employees on the public payroll... therefore they are subject to dismissal and removal from office and replacement by a Committee of the States as provided for in Article Five of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.... This removal from office and replacement by a Committee of the States is hereby recommended and authorized!'

"... Gale correctly assumed that the government would take notice of the committee's threats and so he instructed his followers to form a citizen's posse in every county. 'Anybody who tries to interfere with the lawful operations of the Committee of the States should be faced by the armed posse and be declared outlaws and be apprehended upon sight.' Later versions of this advice instructed that the death penalty be imposed..."

(The Terrorist Next Door, Daniel Levitas, pg. 286)

the "Reverend" Gale

Several of the Las Vegas members of the Committee of the States, but especially the McCray brothers, seem to have been especially enthusiastic about the death penalty.

"In some of the most damaging testimony against the McCray brothers, Angelo Stefanelli had testified that the Las Vegas Chapter of the COS conducted training exercises in Nevada in ambush techniques and garroting with piano wire. In rebuttal on the witness stand, Patrick McCray had said the Nevada delegates simply had picnics at Mike McCray's vacation property. In his closing argument, Pocker derisively called the picnics 'piano wire picnics.'"

(Committee of the States, Cheri Seymour, pg. 337)

It was the Las Vegas chapter that proved to be Gale and the Committee's downfall.

"...When Las Vegas police arrested committee members George R. 'Mike' McCray and his brother Pat in September 1985 on misdemeanor traffic violations, they found each had a briefcase full of incriminating evidence. As the 'chairman' of the Nevada Committee of the States and the 'commander' of its 'unorganized militia,' Mike McCray's briefcase included letters from Bill Gale, copies of threatening 'constructive notices,' and application forms for Identity meetings in Mariposa. The police made copies of the paperwork and pass them along to the IRS, who then gave the material to federal prosecutors. The documents made up a large portion of the 450 exhibits that the U.S. Attorney planned to submit at Bill Gale's trial, which began in Las Vegas on September 15, 1987."

(The Terrorist Next Door, Daniel Levitas, pg. 295)

Gale, who was already dying by the start of the trial, was able to get good propagandist value out of it. The former colonel, an aging WWII veteran terminally ill, was convicted and thus easily able to claim persecution. The prosecution made Gale's martyrdom complete via the dates used for the trial. Gale's wife, Roxanne, would be particularly insistent on this point.

"... As if to suggest something sinister, Roxanne Gale pointed out that both Gale's arrest in 1986 and his trial year later had been held during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. And, coincidentally, the trial verdict was read just hours before the beginning of Yom Kippur. 'The Jews forgot to brag about the defendants being kidnapped by IRS SWAT teams one year ago during the Jewish New Year,' she wrote in a letter to supporters. 'I guess it's called twice the fun for once the price. May Jesus Christ reward them on their timing,' she sarcastically observed..."

(ibid, pg. 297)

Gale around the time of his trial

As was noted before here, Gale was not the first individual during the twentieth century to suggest an organization geared towards assassinating politicians in a bid to uphold common law. This honor goes to the Freecorps movement that developed in Germany following the nation's defeat in World War I. With the nation on the verge of anarchy Freecorps, paramilitary forces largely comprised of WWI veterans and idealistic students, sprang up. While they were initially useful in restoring order and suppressing communism their numerous attempts to over throw the government (most notably the Kapp Putsch) eventually led to the movement's suppression.

Freecorps in Bavaria

Some of the most radical elements went on to form what was known as the Organisation Council (OC). This network would go on to commit over 300 assassinations in Germany between the years 1918-1923, with a decent amount of them directed at government officials. The OC saw itself as a modern manifestation of the medieval Vehmic courts while individual members perceived themselves as reestablishing the ancient German common law that had been usurped by Roman civil law. The modern sovereign citizen moment also perceives their historic common law rights as being usurped, but the American manifestation believes this was done more so by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) than Roman civil law (though he former is frequently said to have been inspired by the latter).

The Thule Society and other occult orders were closely linked to the Freecorps movement. Thule also seems to have been obsessed with common law conspiracy theories and likely played an enormous, though little acknowledged, role in shaping the modern day Patriot movement. I've addressed this topic somewhat in my ongoing series concerning Thule, with a more in depth analysis of these ties set to be revealed in a future installment.

Its also interesting to note that far right wing groups were frequently recruited into what is commonly referred to as Operation Gladio. In theory Gladio was supposed to be a stay-behind network the Pentagon and CIA crafted in Europe at the onset of the Cold War and which would only be activated in the event of a Soviet occupation of Europe. In reality Gladio assets were regularly used to commit assassinations and acts of terrorism in a bid to destabilize European nations that were perceived as slipping outside the US consensus. Of course there have long been allegations that Gladio was also used in the United States itself and followed the same modus operandi of recruiting right wing groups, but such a topic is far beyond the scope of this article.

the emblem of the Italian Gladio branch

Before wrapping up here, its also interesting to note the timing of the Las Vegas shooting spree: June 8. One explanation for this date that has already been set forth is the introduction of twelve amendments to the Constitution of the United States made by James Madison to the House of Representatives on this date in 1789. Ten of them were eventually ratified to become what is commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights. There are some more ominous possibilities, however.

On June 8, 1968, both the funeral for RFK (who had been assassinated on June 6, the day of the Atlanta courthouse shooting) as well as the arrest of alleged MLK assassin James Earl Ray unfolded. The latter event was quite bizarre.

"The following day, June 8, James Earl Ray – the accused assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis that past April – was picked up in London trying to get aboard a flight to Belgium. Ray was an ex-convict, broke, and not too bright. But he was doing a lot of traveling around the US and Europe that year. He would be brought back to the United States to stand trial for the assassination of King, but many were not satisfied with the evidence produced on behalf of the prosecution, and Ray himself complained that he had been manipulated by his defense team."

(Sinister Forces Book I, Peter Levenda, pg. 309)

Ray

There have long been allegations that both Ray and RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan had been used as patsies by some type of right wing cabal also linked to the JFK assassination. This topic is far beyond the scope of this present article, but the curious are advised to check out my series on the JFK assassination, which began to roughly outline this cabal. While reading it, keep in mind Ray was reputed to be a drug trafficker for the Marcello network.

Its also interesting to note that both Sirhan and Ray were reputed to have undergone hypnosis in California before they committed their alleged assassinations.

"Researcher... Jonn Christian interviewed a hypnotherapist who had encountered Sirhan in Pasadena in 1966. The hypnotherapist --Richard St. Charles --also had a stage act, and he would hand out slips for people to fill in their names and addresses for a mailing list. Sirhan's name and address was on one of them. Based on notes he made at the time, St. Charles recalled Sirhan was a good hypnotic subject and, in his opinion, had been hypnotized before St. Charles ever met him. Thus, Sirhan had been hypnotized by St. Charles in 1966, and possibly by someone else even earlier. In fact, Sirhan was not the only assassin who had prior experience of hypnosis. James Earl Ray had also been hypnotized in Los Angeles two months before the assassination of Dr. King --by one Reverend Xavier von Koss --and a book on hypnosis was found in his safe house in Toronto, one of the stops he made before escaping to Europe."

(Sinister Forces Book I, Peter Levenda, pg. 314)

Sirhan

Gale was also active in the Los Angeles area around this time as well: He was operating a Christian Identity "church" out of a Masonic lodge in Glendale, California. But I digress.

Before wrapping things up there's one other event linked to June 8 that must be mentioned: The 1967 USS Liberty incident in which Israeli forces sank the US Navy "technical research" ship in the midst of the Six-Day War. 34 Americans were killed during the incident while an additional 171 were wounded. The anti-Semitic wing of the Patriot movement has long held up the USS Liberty incident as a declaration of war that Israel made against the United States. Given the branding of Gale's Las Vegas trail as a Jewish plot by his followers, the possibility that the present day shooters saw themselves as dispatching agents of "ZOG" (Zionist Occupied Government) should not be ignored.