DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus State Department confirms alleged leader of white-nationalist group is an employee, won't say if he'll be fired

Can’t wait for the spinjobs from the right. Go ahead conservatives, Explain it away:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/state-department-confirms-alleged-white-150736854.html

A current State Department official served as the leader of a white-nationalist organization in Washington, DC, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released on Wednesday.

The official, identified as Matthew Gebert, "hosted white nationalists at his home and published white nationalist propaganda online," the report said.

A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday told INSIDER that Gebert is a foreign-affairs officer assigned to the Bureau of Energy Resources in Washington, DC.

When asked whether the allegations in the SPLC report would affect Gebert's employment status, the department spokesperson told INSIDER, "The Department of State cannot comment on personnel issues but is committed to providing an inclusive workplace."

Gebert was placed on leave as of Thursday, according to a Politico report.

Gebert joined the department in 2013, according to the SPLC report, during the Obama administration. Based on his position as a foreign-affairs officer, he's a civil servant and not a political appointee.

According to the SPLC report, Gebert operated online under the pseudonym "Coach Finstock."

"Through that alias, he expressed a desire to build a country for whites only," the report said.

charlottesville unite the right
charlottesville unite the right
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Read more: Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed white supremacy is 'not a real problem in America.' This CNN host couldn't even.

In a white-nationalist podcast in May 2018, which is cited in the SPLC report, Coach Finstock said, "[Whites] need a country of our own with nukes, and we will retake this thing lickety-split ... That's all that we need. We need a country founded for white people with a nuclear deterrent. And you watch how the world trembles."

The report said that under his pseudonym, Gebert helped lead a chapter of an organization led by one of the men who coordinated the deadly white-nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

The chapter, referred to in the report as "DC Helicopter Pilots," is part of the white supremacist Michael "Enoch" Peinovich's organization, The Right Stuff network.

Gebert, in a neo-Nazi podcast, talked about personally attending the Charlottesville march, where he wore a hat and sunglasses to avoid being identified, the SPLC report said. According to the SPLC report, Gebert in a podcast "expressed no apparent regret about what transpired" at the rally, where a counterprotester named Heather Heyer was killed after a neo-Nazi plowed a car into her and other people.

The SPLC report comes amid renewed scrutiny over white nationalism. Following the El Paso, Texas, shooting, in which a gunman who espoused white-nationalist sentiment killed at least 22 people, critics have said the White House's rhetoric and policies influenced the rise of hate crimes.

The FBI, which received criticism for its handling of domestic-terrorism concerns after the El Paso shooting, reported that since October, the majority of roughly 100 domestic-terrorism-related arrests involving a racial motive were "motivated by some version of what you might call 'white supremacist violence.'"

"We take domestic terrorism or hate crime, regardless of ideology, extremely seriously," FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a congressional hearing in July. "We are aggressively pursuing it, using both counterterrorism resources and criminal investigative resources, and partnering closely with our state and local partners."

The FBI Agents Association on Tuesday urged Congress to declare domestic terrorism a federal crime. "Acts of violence intended to intimidate civilian populations or to influence or affect government policy should be prosecuted as domestic terrorism regardless of the ideology behind them," the group said.

President Donald Trump on Monday condemned white supremacy and said the El Paso shooter was "consumed by racist hate."

Two days later, Trump told reporters he was concerned about "any group of hate ... whether it's white supremacy" or "any other kind of supremacy."

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And this crap isn’t about Trump. It’s about the fact that white nationalist have been slowly normalized to the point that losers like this get into positions of authority and/or influence.

White supremacy is at every level of our government, and our culture.

1. This guy was hired under the obummer administration.
2. He obviously hid that part of his life, operating under an alias.
3. Government employee unions make it almost impossible to fire a government employee.
4. He has been placed on leave, probably so the government can look into the legal aspects of firing this guy.
5. The government can't reveal any info while investgating.
6. Being a racist is not a crime, so it makes it hard to fire him under that premise.

Good point Erik. Do you think we should make being openly racist a criminal act?

It does t matter if the clown was hired under Obama, trump, bush, or Clinton, as I already stated

Losers like this are investing our agencies and needs to be searched out.

As much as I distrust the SPLC and think they are a garbage organization run by some nutter out of his house. Better safe than sorry on this one, firing someone for being racist and stupid would take 5 minutes in the private sector. Even if they can't prove it, he should be on paid leave until they figure it out.

Only if we can also call pharmaceutical companies domestic terrorists. Opioids are killing people after all. (/slightly purple?)

While I disagree with Gebert's opinions, he has the right to hold them as long as they don't impinge on the rights and freedoms of others. If he has shown prejudice in his work-related actions, that could make his removal necessary.

If we start punishing people for their thoughts and beliefs, it's a slippery slope.

If those out of context quotations are the worst he's said, I don't think they are criminal. Undesirable, definitely. If you put people on display with the worst things they've ever said out of context, you can make basically anyone look bad.

Do I like it? No. Should other people not liking your opinions be grounds for criminal charges? Probably not.

We're not the land of the sometimes, kinda-sorta free.

Do some people still suck? Yes.

I think the point was that it has not been normalized.. the state department wouldn't have hired him if they had known.. I doubt he has any level of clearance or hopefully this would have been discovered.

I think if has been doing this recently, without prior renunciation of his previous acts, he should be fired.

No. The minute we make just radical or wild THOUGHTS and OPINIONS a crime, we are on a very very slippery slope that would come back and haunt each and every one of us...

I'll explain it Swish:

the Supreme Court 2017 case of Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017) and I quote:

"…the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express 'the thought that we hate.'"

According to our Supreme Court this man hasn't done anything illegal. Is it distasteful? Absolutely, but being distasteful isn't a crime. Him being a government employee means the government can't fire him over protected free speech which the Supreme Court says this is.

It sucks, I think this guy is a scumbag, but being a scumbag isn't a crime....too bad he deserves to be removed over this.

I agree with this. Yet I still have a caveat. A crime? No.

A reason to dismiss or refuse to hire someone? Yes.

As of now you can refuse to hire someone for smoking tobacco. Tobacco is a legal product. You can be fired for things you say on social.

I see this issue no differently in that regard.

Did you mean "infesting"? That's racist.

You mean the thought police?

Just like the klan in Scoki, those scumbags have a right to be scumbags. Maybe we should change rules for federal employees, and have it take more than an unfounded rumor by a liberal.

Calling white supremacy an infestation is racist?

Ok tucker Carlson. You really do go out of your way to defend these card carrying racist. Just furthers enforces my belief you’re one of them.

I’ve never seen so many people bend over backwards to defend this crap in my life.

This must be a very SMALL experience to what minorities went through in the 50’s and 60’s, trying to gain equality.

A bunch of brain dead zombies who claim they aren’t racist yet spend every waking minute defending them. It’s borderline insanity.

But mostly just racist.

Ok, how far are you willing to follow this? I have several female FB friends who post an inordinate amount of "man bashing" stuff.. could that be considered sexist and a fireable offense?

If it basically violates the conduct policy that your company has, then sure.

I don't know. I mean haven't you defended an employers right to fire people whose public displays are a poor reflection and improper representation of their business? Wouldn't having an obvious racist who believes and espouses racists views represent the State Department in a disparaging light?

It wouldn't be so bad if the Pandora's box wasn't already widely open. Maybe at that juncture a debate could be made. But it is and has been for some time now. I'm not about to start that debate based an openly racist person being a part of our government that at least in theory, is supposed to represent all of us.

No. If Trump using the word "infestation" when speaking of rats is racist, then your use of the word is racist too.

He used it in reference to people as well. Always the classy one, he...

With some trepidation, yes I have.


Absolutely.


It's a debate that has been had and will be had many times with no real clear defined guidelines. If we are going to leave it up to something as subjective as "this represents our business in a disparaging light" then we are leaving it up to the employer to figure out where that point is...

I believe the vast majority would agree which side of the line this numbnuts falls on, but there are/will be many more nuanced cases that fall firmly in the gray area and it will be interesting to see some of them play out.

I agree with you. And in some cases I can easily see myself debating the other side of this. I have in the past.

Much like you however, I don't see this instance as being the hill to die on.

When it comes to our government, as I said, they are, in theory supposed to represent us all. Showing hatred for a large segment in our society flies in the very face of what government is supposed to represent.

But let me clarify something. If it weren't that white supremacists were such a vile, extremist group, my stance may be different. I would feel the same way if it were a member, or former member of Antifa.