David Duke has been released from a German prison and is awaiting expulsion from the country. Many people, myself included, started an online prayer chain, hoping Germany would keep him, to no avail. Dr. (yes, really) Duke has had previous issues in Europe; in 2009 he was detained in, and then thrown out of, the Czech Republic on suspicion of being a holocaust denier. Denying the Holocaust is in fact a crime in many European countries, including the latest one to take offense at Duke’s presence, Germany.
David Duke is a former leader with the Ku Klux Klan, a prominent white nationalist and flaming bigot with two unsuccessful presidential campaigns and a year in prison under his belt. The prison term was not for anything remotely racist-he bilked his followers out of hundred of thousands of dollars to pay gambling debts. The same people, by the way, from whom he is begging money to fight these current charges in Germany.
On his website, Duke wrote that German authorities had arrested him to “silence his message of heritage and freedom.” Considering that he was arrested prior to giving a speech to a right wing extremist group, and Germany takes this sort of thing very seriously, I’m guessing that Duke may be glossing over the facts just a tad. Germany has recently been battling a surge in the number of nationalist groups, some of which are believed to be responsible for attacks against minorities. In fact, less than a week before Duke’s arrest, German prosecutors announced a new investigation into a Neo Nazi group connected to no less than eight murders, including six Turkish immigrants and a police officer. This group is also suspected in numerous other attacks in Cologne and Dusseldorf that injured at least 30 people, mostly immigrants and foreigners.
Stormfront.org, the white nationalist group that boasts the Hal Turner radio program and thinks Tom Metzger (the founder of W.A.R.-White Aryan Resistance) got a “raw deal” during HIS trial, also sponsors David Duke, hawks his tapes and videos on their site, and really wants him to run for president. But, as his two other attempts failed miserably, Stormfront has set their hearts on another candidate, one they believe is close to Dr. David Duke. Who is it? Why, it’s Ron Paul. They blog about him, they praise him, and they raise money for him. A lot of money.
But this isn’t about Ron Paul, although I hope having read the above statement, you’ll look into the connection-great photo of Paul and the founder of Stormfront with their arms around each other floating around in cyberspace-so let’s get back to David Duke. Unfortunately, Germany won’t keep him. “We all have a responsibility to ensure that extreme right, nationalistic and anti-Semitic groups and networks are not able to again come together”, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the German justice minister, stated, according to the AP. He’s already been thrown out of the Czech Republic for his bigoted and dishonest statements about the Holocaust.
There is a possibility that Iran will take him. In 2006, Duke traveled there to participate in a Holocaust denial conference that took place in Tehran. Duke voiced support during his speech for discredited false historians who deny that gas chambers were ever used by the Nazis. Those fringe scholars were imprisoned in Europe for making hateful and dishonest comments about the Holocaust, and Dr. Duke was defending their statements and beliefs.
Obviously, Europe takes hate a little more seriously than we here in America do, and that means they’re sending Duke back. I say we organize a huge bake sale, hire a deprogramming team, snag him and send him to Iran. Yes, as a tall blonde, he’ll stand out, but they already love him over there. Anyone have a giant pie dish and 400 muffin tins?
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buckeyewill
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
NAH….Bring him back to America.
Let him watch Obama in office.
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buckeyewill
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 9:15 pm
Nice that we have the First Amendment…yes, free speech even to David Duke.
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Matt Dunham
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 8:32 am
True.
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Peter Sunn
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Nice? “Nice”…? Freedom to lie, twist & distort facts is “Nice” to have?? Call it for what it is: a Necessary Evil.
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Ignia
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 1:17 am
As long as he only watches, and not through the scope of a rifle.
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ibwilliamsi
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Good thing, too, because the Republicans are due for a new flavor of the week to run for President. He fits the bill perfectly.
FWIW, did he take liberal advantage of free healthcare while in Germany for all of that botox?
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buckeyewill
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
ja,ja(yes,yes)
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Reynardine
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
And here I thought it was just a real old picture.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
It is so hilly where I live that you can only make 1/2 of a pie. If you fill the tin the filling all sloshes to one side and flows out.
Refuse him entrance back in
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The Platzner Post
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Deny Duke reentry! What does this say about Ron Paul?
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dragonpuff
Nov. 29th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
It says what many in the know have been saying for years.
He’s dangerous.
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Jo Hargis
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 12:49 am
Oh, boo. He’s not as old as I thought =( I hoped old age would catch up and rid the world of this pustula.
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Reynardine
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Nihil durare potest tempore perpetuo cum bene.
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Joe Carbone
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 6:46 am
I don’t support what David Duke has to say, but I very much support his right to say it. It’s called the First Amendment. No one, anywhere, should be arrested for what they have to say. Arresting people for thought crime is unAmerican fascism, and those of you who support the Germans in this case should be ashamed of yourself.
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Victor Galea
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 10:58 am
I approve of the sentiment, Joe, but must beg to differ about the conclusion. I am a member of ACLU and fully support First Amendment rights, but those have meaning only in the US, as part of an entire constitutional framework. I am very hesitant to judge any other country’s variations on those rights in general, and specifically Germany’s curbs on speech here. Of course it’s “unAmerican”; Germany isn’t America. But the “fascism” accusation is unfair and unsupported. Other countries have state religions, but I don’t think civil libertarians in the US are generally upset about that, no matter how clearly it would violate Amendment I.
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Sean Russell
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 11:03 am
Sorry, but there is a difference between speech and hate speech. You can’t yell fire in a theater; you can’t threaten people. His Holocaust denying speech is exactly that- threatening people who have done nothing to him.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Some people are very confused when it comes to exactly what free speech is
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Reynardine
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Under the holding of Beauharnais v. Illinois, a condition of both prior and impending racial violence within a jurisdiction can support that jurisdiction’s penalizing racially- based, inflammatory group libel, which means that even under our First Amendment (assuming it applied to them) Germany would be justified in supporting such penalties. Though quite limited in its application in the USA, Beauharnais is not a dead letter. It could still be invoked where there is an imminent danger that a speaker’s words could incite the intended audience to criminal violence against the targeted group (as opposed to arousing violent disgust against the speaker himself)
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SinghX
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Germany has laws that prevent “harm” to their democracy and families via any/all aberrant, destructive groups that seek to recruit/co-opt for the purpose of destroying the peace of their families/democratic society.
Known “cults”,for instance, are not allowed a platform in order to recruit family members away from their familial unit for the purpose of membership…if you belong to a “cult” you can “worship” within your home with your family (I believe that’s how it works), but you can’t roam the streets looking for run-aways/the homeless, nor ask that your cult “believe” programs to be part of a school curriculum…as in abstinence classes, that anti-evolution crap, etc.
The Klan is obviously considered a destructive group bent on destroying the peace of families and democracy world-wide, therefore, anyone who comes to Germany “preaching” the denial of the Holocaust is considered under-mining their “peace democracy”.
Germans would tell you that they are not infringing on free speech in as much as they are making proselytism illegal as a vehicle to destroy or over-throw peaceful democracy; to them, it is perfectly legit.
I wish I could find the law via Google, but, I read this information a couple years ago via a professional journal…somewhere in my stacks.
Perhaps there is a German citizen who can enlighten us/correct my recollection of their laws.
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SinghX
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
…belief, not “believe”…sorry
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Peter Sunn
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Screw that. The world is not America. Thank god for diversity.
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SinghX
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Deprogram him?? HA! It takes a “village” to do these sort of “come to Jaysus meetings” plus, a semi-willing soul to listen to what they’ve done to themselves and others. It would take an act of the sky-god to “help” him; I doubt that the world’s greatest deprogrammer, Rick Ross, would even take him on for all the money in the coffers (and he’s Jewish)!
You can’t take a Klansman and change them back to innocence, just like you can’t take an overly steroidal female body builder and put her back the way she was…
Klansman take an oath that if they “get caught” or decide not to be a loyal to their race, then they will die by the hands of fellow Klansman. Dukes’ a coward and would rather spend his life in prison, as a “martyr” writing his own version of “Mein Kampf”…
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EmmaLib
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 9:38 am
I do not support Paul because of these connections to these hate groups,in addition to his own writings in his news letters in the 90′s filled with disdain for others. However, those that defend and promote him claim those letters were never written by Paul, but by the sneaky left wing years ago to defame a good man. And, the pictures too have been photoshopped to make him appear to be friends with those bigots and racists on the extreme right. I do not understand how can so many be so easily fooled to deny absolute evidence such as the Holocaust, and Ron Paul’s own words and letters? It’s the same with the birthers (one of the same, bigots and racists) that all these plots were developed decades before, as though we knew what the future held. I can picture Soros sitting around the kitchen table fifty odd years ago with his friends, Jack, Teddy, and Bobby Kennedy…
Soros: Okay, we have Barack Obama set to be President in 2008 and 2012! The fake birth certificate has been placed in Hawaii’s files, the long form, and the fake birth announcement placed in the paper, back dated, so no one will be the wiser. Now let’s move on to destroying the good image of Dr. Ron Paul, cause we know someday, he will run for President against Barack Obama, and we can’t allow that!
These people seem to be so scared of things they know nothing about and people they have never met. Willfully ignorant people seem to be ripe and abundant for picking, their brains and wallets.
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Sergio
Nov. 30th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
umm i have a question how much would it take to say keep him in a German jail look id be willing to chip in on his stay im sure others would to
or perhaps if the German authorities took him to the wrong continent say Antarctica
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