one of the things i spoke a number of times with people from the southern poverty law center and others who are compiled these kind of stats and one of the things that seems to be driving this is this is the first time a black man has occupied the white house so there's a racism element to it be we. had thirty two years now of a drumbeat basically since reagan became the first president ever to say being the president is an evil thing you know the government is not the solution the government is the problem. of thirty two years of a drumbeat of. in some cases both political parties saying government is a bad thing and people are starting to believe it what what's your sense of this what do we do about this where is this going and where has this come from. as you and i and if i set the table appropriately and it is as you point out really the southern poverty law center and organizations like the council on american islamic relations started you know we were seeing sort of leveling off and anti muslim hate two thousand and seven two thousand and eight then you get the election of preside

as you set the table appropriately i mean as as you point out really the southern poverty law center and organizations like the council on american islamic relations started you know we were seeing sort of leveling off and anti muslim hate two thousand and seven two thousand and eight then you get the election of president obama and all of a sudden things start going on the rise again southern poverty law center has talked about you know in the expansion in white supremacist and anti-government groups while we've been tracking an expansion an anti muslim and islam phobic groups. at this point in time you know it's a cycle that unfortunately we go through every so often and we believe that what needs to happen and the focus as you say is on islamic extremism and we know right we don't know in boston right now in boston what the motivation was these could have just been to people who wanted to see what happened although the evidence looks fairly convincing that they were inspired by groups by like al qaida. but we need to make sure that we don't take our eye off the ball so right now m

marriage of all of those people dedicted -- depicted as i mentioned down the hall, the southern poverty law center claimed that family research center was a hate group and stirred up animosity against played a eventually role, as we found out later, no one wanted to jump to conclusions, but it was very clear that their branding the family research council, chick f i lay -- chick-fil-a, as being hateful simply because they held religious beliefs protected by a constitution that marriage is between a man and a woman, the southern poverty law enter stirred up hate, animosity, and rage against the family research council. and on the fateful day, not so long ago, a gunman came to the family research council with a bunch of chick-fil-a sandwiches and a gun and but for the valiant work of the man that stopped him and got shot in the process, there could well have been 15 dead family research council employees with 15 chick-fil-a sandwiches beside them. there is an article here written by brian preston, april 15, 2013, says, news broke friday afternoon that an arrest had been made in the murders of three

the southern poverty law center says this facility was not alone.y others just as bad in or leans parish are still open. they along with several former inmates sued the sheriff last april. he's in charge of running the jails. as shocking as it is to watch this video, reading the details in the lawsuit is just as disturbing. mental health patients denied care. inmates beaten by staff and raped by other prisoners. guards instigating fights. this father lost his 32-year-old son to suicide in the prison two years ago. >> hearing some of testimony and looking at the video of the jail itself, i cannot imagine the conditions of any human being living in those conditions. >> reporter: southern poverty law center and sheriff's office reached a settlement in december. change was be made to make the prisons more safe. but change costs money. money the city says it doesn't have. that's why the case is still in court. the city's mayor says taxpayers are already investing more than $200 million to build new facilities. in a statement to cnn, the mayor said, i can

for more we're joined by mark potok, senior fellow at the southern poverty law center.the group tracks hate groups and he described iran brotherhood of texas or abt is perhaps the most violent white supremacist gang in the country. he is joining us from alabama. welcome back to "democracy now!" let's talk about what happened this weekend with the district attorney mcclelland and his wife and then go backwards from there. his ada, the prosecutor heavily involved in the investigation of the aryan brotherhood, and also what has been going on in colorado. >> it is an incredible set of circumstances as you have said, mike mcclelland and his wife cynthia were murdered over the weekend, on saturday or perhaps friday night, and it sounds very much like an assassination. there door was reportedly kicked in. there were all kinds of shell casings all over the floor. it looks like they opened the door to a stranger and more simply murdered right there. remarkable thing about this, it can almost two months to the day after the january 31 murder of mark hasse who was killed as he was

years old and was recorded at the now closed house of detention in orleans parish, the southern poverty law centers the facility was not alone. many others just as bad in orleans parish are still open. they along with several former inmates sued the sheriff, marlon guzman last april. he is in charge of running the jails. as shocking as it is to watch this video, reading the details in the lawsuit is just as disturbing. mental health patients denied care, inmates beaten by staff, and raped by other prisoners. guards instigating fights. this father lost his 32-year-old son to suicide in the prison two years ago. >> hearing some of the testimony and looking at some of the video of the jail itself, i cannot imagine the conditions of any human being living in those conditions. >> southern poverty law center and the sheriff's office reached a settlement in december. it was agreed changes would be made to make the prisons more safe, but change costs money, money the city says it doesn't have. that's why the case is still in court. the city's mayor says taxpayers are already investing more than $200 milli

the southern poverty law center says they were denied membership., but it didn't seem to matter. authorities say the abt followed the california model. >> it is said to be one of the gangs that live by the blood in/blood out code meaning that you can only get into abt by carrying out some kind of attack. and similarly or so it's said, you can only leave in a body bag. >> reporter: and like the larger aryan brotherhood movement, authorities say the abt's main purpose turned from protecting whites in prison to criminal activities like drugs, extortion, and murder. and its reach began to extend outside the prison walls as more members served out their sentences. abt members on parole are required not only to remain loyal to the gang but also to recruit new members. >> brutal beatings, firebombings, drug trafficking, and murder are all part of abt's alleged standard operating procedures. >> reporter: last november, 34 alleged members of the abt were indicted on federal racketeering charges. more than half of the alleged gang members were operating outsi

here he is on surveillance video last summer, posing with a rebel flag outside the southern poverty law centeralabama. >> he writes about how white southern men ought to rise up to defend southern white womanhood. well, you know, the last time we heard that cry was from the reconstruction era klan. >> i call myself a southern nationalist. i believe in the identity of a southern people and believe with -- >> the white identity? european identity. white european identity? >> of course. my customs are white and my language is white. >> he led a group called white pride and other pro white slogans in public areas at maryland's towson university where he is enrolled. he commented, "no longer with a homosexu homosexual, muslim and black supreme sift groups be allowed to hijack our campus." >> i think this group is attempting to promote white supremacy issues, issues of noninclusion on a number of levels. >> reporter: now the leader of a new group, the white student union, he complains about campus crimes saying every single day black predators prey upon the majority white towson university student b

the interview i did with southern poverty law center. she read that and dropped me a couple postcards of encouragement commending the changes i made so we've been pen pals for almost two years now and been together for about the last year. she's beautiful. she has a good heart, smart, funny, loves me to death, takes good care of me. so, i couldn't ask for more. and not to mention, she's willing to stand by me and do the time with me, so i'm pretty blessed. >> coming up -- >> after the 36 hours they take the baby from you and you just have to hand the baby over and you go straight back to prison. >> the harsh reality of being pregnant in prison. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com toda

atlanta waco oklahoma city the unabomber when hundreds of others so well documented over the southern poverty law center our founders fought and died for this nation for goodness sake george washington had three horses shot out from underneath underneath them or so the story goes during the war if we don't like something our government is doing let's have a serious dialogue about it let's discuss it let's vote on it but let's not demonize the united states of america itself government itself and let's not consistently paint our democratic republic as the source of all of our problems not only to such behavior accomplish virtually nothing but it brings the crazies out of the woodwork of all stripes and that's the way it is tonight wednesday april seventeenth two thousand and thirteen and don't forget the modesty begins when you get out there get active tag you're it. come. to. chicago. white county sharma's crime. walk. up. to. make. the good international landlords in the very heart of moscow.

atlanta waco oklahoma city the unabomber when hundreds of others so well documented over the southern poverty law center our founders fought and died for this nation for goodness sake george washington had three horses shot out from underneath underneath them or so the story goes during the war if we don't like something our government is doing let's have a serious dialogue about it let's discuss it let's vote on it but let's not demonize the united states of america itself government itself and let's not consistently paint our democratic republic as the source of all of our problems not only to such behavior accomplish virtually nothing but it brings the crazies out of the woodwork of all stripes and that's the way it is tonight wednesday april seventeenth two thousand and thirteen and don't forget the modesty begins with you get out there get active take your. wealthy british. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's guns or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports . will. technology innovation all the developments ar

tony perkins came out and blamed the southern poverty law center but this videotape is the first timecome out and say that perkins was correct. we called the southern poverty law center. we e-mailed them. so far, they have not issued a response to us at all. >> megyn: okay. trace, thank you. >>> well, troubling new details just ahead, as new york city police commissioner ray kelly details the boston bombers' plans to target times square. next. who exactly authorized what happened in that boston hospital? holding this terror suspect earlier this week. why did the f.b.i. get so angry, saying that this ver gation was cut off -- interrogation was cut off mid-stream and valuable information left untapped? michael mukasey will join us to answer the questions. must this have come from the top? he would know. we talk about it next. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ your doctor will say get smart about your weight

really haven't paid much attention to what is a growing right wing threat even in fact the southern poverty law center came out of the report talking about since obama's election the growth in right wing groups and white supremacist groups have exploded have exploded just to trevor and thanks so much for being thanks for having me and for writing this brilliant book the turf factory inside so i should want to. take you to see this and other conversations in the great minds go to our website conversations great minds stuff. gets a media right. ten thousand tons cudgelled through space towards russia. with the power. of a nuclear bomb. should have been sky full on r.t. . sundance technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we dumped the huge earth covered. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are all over the day. the book about international and war in the very heart of moscow. coming out for folks worried about how touchy issue.

really haven't paid much attention to what is a growing right wing threat even in fact the southern poverty law center came out a report talking about since obama's election the growth in right wing groups and white supremacist groups have exploded have exploded just to trevor and thanks so much for being thanks for having me and for writing this brilliant book the factory inside you guys want to. take you to see this in other conversations in the great minds go to our website conversations the great minds. potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more powdery down the line there's still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight. jason it is going to pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout what's been like nobody's long three drugs and some emergency vehicles. on. the news today violence is once again flared

. >> so we can't really say -- that is a southern poverty law center who calls everybody a nazi. that is really not their motivation. the motivation is that they are criminals. they happen to be white and they band together to protect themselves against other races. the real danger with them is that they are some of the toughest kids on the block and as such they are hired by other people to do their dirty work. for instance, when gati was incarcerated he was being extorted by the aryan brotherhood and they used black inmates to intimidate him and extract this extortion. >> judge jeanine: it is almost as though some people will, you know, kind of underestimate what their goals are. and maryanne, i will go to you you with this. hasn't the aryan brotherhood texas, you far are familiar with the prison gangs in texas. haven't they moved off of their original mission which is why the aryan circle broke off from them? >> yes, judge. the circle broke off bought of the ideologies. they wanted a separate -- they didn't like the way the aryan brotherhood of it texas was going and so when t

lyden, author of skinhead confessions, with the southern poverty law center.k, let's start with you. how sophisticated are they and do they have a business operation? >> they're sophisticated enough that they are able from their cells in prisons, often in solitary confinement, to essentially direct a criminal empire that extends beyond the prison walls and out into the streets of our communities. what i mean by that largely is that they're running a very major methamphetamine distribution racket, something that reaches the millions of dollars. that, i think, has really been the remarkable thing, how they're able to get their messages out by written codes, verbal codes, sometimes through the use of their wives, girlfriends. get messages out. the fact is that the leadership, by and large, is in prison and often locked down, yet able to direct these things. >> organization and money. would you say millions of dollars that is the total worth of the organization? >> i think that's probably right. we're talking about a gang that has more than 1,000 members and proba

. >> reporter: southern poverty law center and the office reached a decision in december.would be made, but change costs money, money the city says it doesn't have. that's wlhy the case is still i court. the city's mayor says taxpayers are already investing more than $200 million to build new facilities. in a statement to cnn the mayor said "i cannot in good conscience cut vital services or raise taxes to put even more money into an office where waste, fraud, and abuse run rampant." instead, he wants the federal government to step in and take control from the sheriff. >> he's been aware of these conditions since 2008. and the conditions have gotten worse. >> reporter: all of this takes us back to a disaster the new orleans area just can't seem to fully recover from, hurricane katrina. these with temporary facilities he was forced to use after the storm flooded parish prisons. eight of those temporary jails still house inmates today. sara ganim, cnn. >> and coming up later today, out front with erin burnett is going to dig deeper. her program starts 7:00 p.m. eastern time r

the southern poverty law center says this facility was not alone.rs just as bad in orleans parish are still open. they, along with several former inmates, sued the sheriff, marlon guzman, last april. he's in charge of running the jail. as shocking as it is to watch this video, reading the details in the lawsuit is just as disturbing. mental health patients denied care. inmates beaten by staff and raped by other prisoners. guards instigating fights. this father lost his 32-year-old son to suicide in the prison two years ago. >> hearing some of the testimony and looking at some of the video of the jail itself, i cannot imagine the conditions of any human being living in those conditions. >> reporter: southern poverty law center and the sheriff's office reached a settlement in december. it was agreed that changes would be made to make the prisons more safe, but change costs money, money the city says it doesn't have. that's why the case is still in court. the city's mayor says taxpayers are already investing more than $200 million to build new faciliti

for more than on this joined by mark potok, intelligence director from the southern poverty law center with us from montgomery, alabama. good afternoon, sir. >> a pleasure to be with you, martin. >> you described the aryan brotherhood of texas as probably the most violent white supremacist gang in the country. is this gang solely based on racial hatred? and how do you think they might be linked to these killings? >> well, like most of these race-based prison gangs, they are fundamentally a criminal enterprise. they are certainly white supremaci supremacists, but when push comes to shove, that is quickly set aside in the interests of criminal enterprise. so what i mean is the aryan brotherhood of texas is perfectly willing to make alliances with nonwhite prison gangs, with the mexican mafia. those kinds of groups if, in fact, it feels it can make more money doing things like its principle occupation which is is running methamphetamine and other kinds of drugs. i mean, the connection to these cases is pretty graphic, although as you said in your intro, really entirely circumstantial. the

but the southern poverty law center wrote a letter to attorney general eric holder warning, that quote, as in the period before the oklahoma city bombing, we are now seeing ominous threats from those who believe that the government is poised to take their guns. is this something you had heard anything about as a member of this committee? >> well, we have. we have had hearings that talk about both international terrorists as well as domestic terrorists. there are over 1,000 organizations identified here in this country with some domestic terrorist nexus so it's an issue. as to whether or not it develops here in boston remains to be seen but all of the systems focused on trying to identify who the party or parties involved in this dastardly act. >> congressman benny thompson, thanks so much for being with us today. now i want to bring in tag romney, oldest son of former presidential candidate mitt romney. where were you? >> we were patriots day is a big -- >> holiday, right. >> i had taken my family to fenway park. we are at the red sox game and watched the marathon and hopped in a cab t

i think those numbers -- the statistics that you guys are putting out at the southern poverty law centerre staggering. what do you ascribe to that? why the dramatic up tick in the extremist groups in the united states? >> the jump begins right in early 2009 and it's dramatic. we bent -- to 130060 in four years. so that, i think obviously is tied to the election of barack obama. of course, that's what immediately precedes this rise. i think the main driver of this growth is the election of our first black president, and more importantly, what that election represents. the changing racial demographics of the united states, the ideas as the census bureau has predicted, that whites will lose their majority by about 2043. of course at the very same time, in the fall of 2008 action we saw the collapse of the economy beginning, of course, with the subprime crisis, so that really added fuel to the fire, made people angry, afraid, concerned, feeling like the country they lived in was not the country they grew up in, and so on. i think those are the two main things. the debate that began about gun

they have been criticized as a hate group by the southern poverty law center. they are antiwhite. they have problems with jewish people. they are a hate group in a lot of ways but they're also very small and don't have a lot of influence, so why is fox news talk about them so much? well, because fox news core audience, their target audience, people, that niche is mostly middle-class, mostly middle-aged, although bit more male than female, and what is one of their greatest fears? black people. so if you create a channel where you're invoking that point of view and your realizing that culture and news coverage. one of the things you're going to issue going to talk about fears, right? black president who secretly supports or is being supported by this antiwhite, black history. whether or not i they make sens, whether or not there's any real context it, whether or not it deserves that kind of coverage. now, this is fox nation, a blog connected to the fox news channel. it tends to be more extreme than the stuff you see on television. but when president obama and holds been at the white

we turn now to senior fellow at the southern poverty law center around expert on extremism and hate groups, mark poe to be. what do we know about how linked the crimes are in text and colorado? >> similar, might have been carried out by white supremacist prison gangs, much stronger for that in colorado than in texas. the interesting thing, the killer of tom clements, the head of the colorado department of corrections, turns out to be a man named evan ebalance. two days after the shooting, he fled to north texas, got into a shootout with police there and was killed. the intriguing police is where that shootout occurred in texas was a mere 100 miles from kauffman, texas, which is, of course, where mike mclelland was district attorney. >> mark do hate crimes like these happen often or a rise right now for some reason? reason to believe more of the type of violence is being plotted for the near future? >> no i think the reality is that these kind of attacks on prosecutors and high-ranking officials are incredibly rare. prosecutors 20 years of american history. it is really very remarkable. als

. >>> joining us now from montgomery, alabama, heidi birik, director of the southern poverty law centert. back in october, when the justice department indicted 34 members of the texas aryan brotherhood, officials called it at the time a devastating blow to the group. so now speculation that there could potentially be a link and that these also could be retaliatory killings. would you want to connect the dots here? >> well, i mean, at this point in time we don't have any evidence linking the two murders or even anything definitive to say the aryan brotherhood in texas was involved in any of them. that said, the texas department of safety had already warned prosecutor and law enforcement officials after those indictments in november that they should be concerned about violence coming from this group and this group is extremely violent. so it is always, you know, it is very possible that's the case. >> and do you know whether any of the 34 people who were indicted last fall remain at large? >> i think most of the folks that were involved were rounded up or were already in prison. that's no

there is this consent decreate agreed to in december between the justice department, the southern poverty law centerrepresenting some of the inmates and the sheriff of the jail himself, sheriff guzman. it is a 53-page, don, agreement. and the agreement, consent decree, and proposed, hasn't been approved by the judge yesterday, which is why there is a hearing, addresses all the issues. it would provide for increased staffing so people can't just leave a jail and have all of this contraband and that sort of thing. it would also provide for some mental health care, would provide for violence prevention, a significant problem now in the new orleans jails. and, of course, medical care because we know so many horrible things have happened at that particular jail. and so people are certainly looking at this, and trying to fix it. the real question is the cost, who has to pay for it. who has the money. they're estimating it could be like $17 million that the city would have to come up with. >> jail is supposed to be about rehab. doesn't look like that's happening there. thank you very much, sunny and sara,

the southern poverty law center , fox news, heritage foundation -- a lot of different organizations.host: ok. go ahead, commerce and. -- congressman. here, i do noter know if i could anchor that in fact. it could be more. we do not know the answer. but we could stop the bleeding at the border, i agree, and the resource we are spending down there on more than $6 million a mile. if i think about a mile of gravel road in iowa. offered a. napolitano me a 10 year contract, i think i could get entered security out of the border and what we are getting out of their now. yes, we can stop the bleeding at the border. that does need to happen. we can cut of contraband at the same time. we know we have potential terrorists coming across the border. they become classified information. .-verify is a good tool i also have a bill that is called the new idea act, and it stands for illegal deduction in elimination act. it brings the irs into this. it is the employer's safe butor if they use e-verify denies benefits and wages paid to illegals as a business expense, which results in a taxable income for

. >> it's interesting particularly if you go to the southern poverty law center.stant threats any actual acts of violence, militia with stockpiling guns, threatening to blow up buildings threatening to kill judges. killing people. a famous case in georgia a couple of years ago. there was this on -- active military militia group and active or former now. they killed one of their own members because they were afraid he was going to wrat them out because they had big plans on waging war against the government. there was a bomber, would-be bomber arrested in washington because he was going to set off bombs on an mlk parade route. threats against the president. we know it is not really covered and it is really not covered on fox. there is a steady drumbeat of right wing violence or threats of right wing violence and if you include that, the abortion firebombings and the attack on abortion clinics women's health clinics, it is disoornt. a, fox news doesn't cover it and b, they certainly don't ashrine collective blame. >> stephanie: this guy that pulled up outside the si

this weekend i will join the southern poverty law center to rename and rededicate the civil rights memorial in montgomery, alabama. this memorial is a tribute to 40 individuals killed during the struggle. it is a place to remember the fallen, to take heed of their message, to deepen our understanding, and to he renew our commitment to equal rights under the law. there were four small little children going to church, four students, four daughters, four members of the tight n.i.t. -- tight knit community in birmingham, four victims to the forces of hatred and prejudice. their senseless and premature deaths ignited the fires for progress, fanned the flames of equality. as the resolution declares, i thank the gentlelady, one of our new -- not brand new but newer members of congress, for coming here and joining with colleagues , mr. bachus, mr. bonner, certainly, john lewis, and members of the congress not representing alabama but from alabama. as the resolution that she presents declares the legacy that these four little black girls left will live in the minds and hearts of all for generations