[Vision2020] Another hate group

Wed Jan 16 02:52:42 PST 2013

At the risk of Paul again confusing discussion with hate . . .

Roger (Falen) wrote:

"I do not know anything about this group, but how does anyone know that they
are a hate group?  A little bit wako probably, but not necessarily a hate
group."

I think the question is a good one, and I don't think we know the answer to
it.  After all, hate groups rarely (if ever) consider themselves to be hate
groups, you know J  And, what they say for public consumption is often quite
different than what they say amongst the inner circle.

To back up a bit, I can't find anything where the SPLC has looked at the
Citadel and its separate but integral III Arms - Roger (Hayes), can you
provide a link?  The group clearly considers itself to be part of the
"Patriot" movement & reveres John Wesley, Rawls (yawn, one of those highly
paid anti-government doomsday/prepper/survivalist types) and his "American
Redoubt."  Rawls, however, has recently disavowed any connection to III
Citadel, which I found hilarious, while failing to distance himself from the
weapons manufacture of III Arms Company, which is how this group expects to
fund the III Citadel.  They've supposedly purchased 20 acres (so far) in the
St. Maries area & plan on starting to build the III Arms factory (the first
phase) there in early-to-mid year.  At this point, I think their weapons are
still being custom-manufactured in WV . . . if they are actually being made
at all.

And, in my book, the interesting thing about the III Citadel is the III Arms
Company - lots of right-wing extremists have attempted to establish insular
communities, but they typically fail, is seems to me, because of the
finances (as well as in-fighting, not to mention not being able to play well
with others, something the III Citadel/III Arms Company hasn't avoided).
III Arms Company is an attempt (or perhaps a scam) to provide funding to
make the III Citadel a reality (or a more profitable scam).

The whole thing makes me think of a bunch of silly role-playing teenagers
enamored with their interpretation of the Second Amendment trying to form a
doomsday utopia as an excuse for their hoarding tendencies & expensive
deadly toys.

However, I find the psychology very interesting!  In tough economic times,
it's fascinating to me that anyone would turn over $208 to "apply" to lease
a "home" in a walled community that probably won't exist anytime soon.  They
estimate that the cost of that silly wall alone will cost in the
neighborhood of $25 million.  An examination of the stated goals of the III
Citadel community and associated costs aren't realistic, financially or
otherwise.  Reading the blogs of those involved shows -at best - a stunning
ignorance of basics like sustainability, economics, legal principles,
weather in Benewah County, growing seasons, roads, accessibility, etc.

But . . . it gets even better  J  III Arms claims that it's a non-profit!  I
kid you not  J

http://iiiarms.blogspot.com/2012/11/black-rifle-friday.html

"And remember, III Arms is not a for-profit company. All proceeds go to the
Citadel Project, to help build a bastion of Liberty for us all."

ROTFLOF!!!

But, wait:  it gets even better  J

Has anyone besides me wondered why the III Citadel is collecting money but
doesn't have a spokesperson?  Curious, don't you think?

Well, perhaps it's because the person behind the "firearms arms required"
III Citadel and initially behind III Arms Co. is a federally convicted felon
who apparently isn't even able to legally own a firearm  J  I kid you not!

I've been trying to track down rumors & facts for a couple of weeks now
since Tom first posted, and the earliest references I've been able to find
originated with a man apparently named Christian or Chris Kerodin, which may
or may not be his real name since he's a dude with a lot of apparent
aliases, scams, and blogs.  But, in reading his blogs, he definitely seems
to be this guy:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/mar/26/20040326-124129-2670r/print/

An Alexandria, Va., man was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 30
months in prison and fined $6,000 after he pleaded guilty in January to
charges of extortion and possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty in Alexandria said Christian Kerodin, 36, was
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, who also ordered that the
prison term be followed by three years of supervised release.

Mr. McNulty said Kerodin published a report on the Internet in May titled
"Terrorist Target List: American Retailers & Restaurants," which said
shopping venues were likely to be prime targets for terrorist attacks and
billed himself as a security expert.

A month later, he said, Kerodin contacted officials at the Fashion Centre at
Pentagon City, Landmark Mall and Tysons Galleria, saying that a new edition
of his Internet report was due shortly and that if they contracted with him
for security assessments, he would not include their names in the new report
as needing security upgrades.

The Fashion Centre is owned by the Simon Property Group, and Landmark and
Tysons Galleria are owned by General Growth Properties Inc.

Mr. McNulty said mall officials asked Kerodin to provide the names of other
clients for references or to supply credentials for persons who worked for
his company. He refused, saying he did not need experience to be an expert
in counterterrorism. None of the malls hired him.

In July, Kerodin published the report, which criticized several area
shopping malls for being vulnerable to terrorist attacks, specifically
criticizing the Fashion Centre, Landmark Mall and Tysons Galleria. Mr.
McNulty said Kerodin recontacted officials at Simon and General Growth by
letter and threatened to release similarly negative reports on 14 other
properties that the companies owned.

An agent from the Department of Homeland Security posing as a mall executive
then contacted Kerodin, telling him the malls had hired another security
company and asking that they not be included in additional reports. The
agent also offered Kerodin $40,000 to be left out of any new reports.

Mr. McNulty said Kerodin rejected the offer and demanded $122,500. He then
was arrested.

"This defendant took advantage of the heightened concern we all have to
protect ourselves from terrorism. It is reprehensible that someone would
exploit that concern for personal gain," Mr. McNulty said.

Huh.  I guess their definition of "law-abiding" is quite a bit different
than is mine.  And, I feel soooo much better (not!) that it's his wife
Holly, rather than convicted felon Christian Kerodin himself, who is listed
with the Idaho Secretary of State as a "member or manager" of III Arms
Company, LLC:

http://www.accessidaho.org/public/sos/corp/W116214.html

I highly recommend checking out (one of) Kerodin's blogs.  Here's a sample:

http://iiipercent.blogspot.com/2013/01/in-absence-of-orders-go-find-somethin
g.html

In the absence of orders, go find something evil and kill it.

I borrowed the title from  <http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/>
WRSA.

I think you will see this phrase again on this blog. 

If we are Citizen Soldiers, a Leaderless entity, or small groups of Patriots
who have installed a command structure among themselves, but otherwise
answer to no central command, then it is incumbant upon each of us to
shoulder our portion of the burden and act independantly.

In the absence of orders, go find something evil and kill it.

You'll know when. You already know who. You should know where they are in
your AO.

You know what is Evil.

You know what it is going to take to backfist the Tyrants out of our lives
for the next few generations. Fight to the knife, and knife to the hilt...

Standing Orders: In the absence of orders, go find something evil and kill
it.

Kerodin
III

Wow - that's just the kind of dude I want as an Idahoan!!!  Is that, and a
lot of other vitriol he's written, "hate"?

Rather than recount a lot of details, an article providing lots of
interesting background was just published:

http://politicker.com/2013/01/meet-the-men-who-want-to-build-an-armed-castle
-commune-for-patriots/

James L. Miller is many things, a motorcycle enthusiast, accused online
scammer, doomsday prepper, gunmaker and cat lover. Christian Kerodin also
wears a number of hats; he is an air conditioning repairman, blogger, author
<http://www.amazon.com/III-Liberty-Fight-Restore-Constitution/dp/0984177795/
ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302725343&sr=8-2> , self-styled security
consultant and convicted extortionist. Both men also seem to be the
masterminds behind a plan to build a massive, armed survivalist compound in
Idaho that has been making national
<http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/21/178147/survivalist-group-the-citidal.
html>  headlines
<http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/patriotic-group-build-arme
d-defensible-neighborhood-fortress> . 

According to the website of the Citadel
<http://www.iiicitadel.com/about.html> , it will be a "community of 3,500 -
7,000 families of patriotic Americans who voluntarily choose to live
together in accordance with Thomas Jefferson's ideal of Rightful Liberty"
and is being planned for Northern Idaho. Among other things, the designs for
the Citadel include a "perimeter defense" with castle-style fortified walls
and towers, an on-site gun factory, hotels, schools, a "firearms museum," a
"town militia," jail and farmer's market. As of now, the community is
planned for Benewah County in Northern Idaho
<http://www.iiicitadel.com/location.html> . Prospective residents of the
Citadel are asked to submit to an application process
<http://www.iiicitadel.com/apply.html>  that includes agreeing to
participate in the militia and pass periodic proficiency tests with multiple
types of firearms.

"Marxists, Socialists, Liberals and Establishment Republicans will likely
find that life in our community is incompatible with their existing ideology
and preferred lifestyles," the website says.

Though the Citadel website claims the group has no
<http://www.iiicitadel.com/faq.html#leader> "leader" and is the work of
"scores of Liberty-loving individuals," it appears Mr. Miller and Mr.
Kerodin are two of the main forces behind the project. The roman numeral in
the community's name seems to be derived from "III Percent Patriots
<http://iiipercent.blogspot.com/> ," a blog operated by Mr. Kerodin where
the early discussions were held
<http://iiipercent.blogspot.com/p/iii-pioneer-project_17.html>  planning the
Citadel's design and potential locations. An entry on Mr. Kerodin
<http://kerodin.com/> 's personal website describes the meaning of the term
"III Percent Patriots."

"Historians consider that about 3 percent of Americans took arms and
challenged the King during the Revolution. 3 percent. III Percent.
Threepers. Patriots. We exist today," Mr. Kerodin wrote. "We are that
percentage of Americans who have the tools and mettle of the Militiaman who
stand and have drawn a hard line for the Hard Right of the political
spectrum."

Along with his political activities, Mr. Kerodin has also worked as a
repairman <http://www.kerodin-lawsuit-against-bad-faith-businesses.com/>
for heating and air conditioning systems. In 2002, Mr. Kerodin started a
security consultancy
<http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/message/5657> . The
following year, he printed an eight-page analysis
<http://securitysolutions.com/mag/security_helpfulness_becomes_extortion/>
of terrorism weaknesses at shopping malls in the Washington D.C. area.
According to reports from the time, he subsequently contacted mall operators
in the area and told them they would be included in other similar analyses
if they did not hire him to conduct security assessments. A concerned
company contacted the Secret Service who had an undercover agent contact Mr.
Kerodin who allegedly agreed to keep the business out of his reports after
accepting a $120,000 check. He was arrested and indicted for an extortion
charge to which he plead guilty
<http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/message/5657> . Mr.
Kerodin was sentenced to 30 months in prison
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/mar/26/20040326-124129-2670r/print
/http:/www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/mar/26/20040326-124129-2670r/print/
>  for the crime and an associated firearms charge. As a federal felon, Mr.
Kerodin cannot own a weapon, but on his website
<http://www.kerodin.com/landmines.htm> , he says he is "exploring" legal
avenues to "recover" his "firearms rights."

In one of the Citadel planning posts
<http://iiipercent.blogspot.com/p/iii-pioneer-project_17.html>  on Mr.
Kerodin's blogs, a commenter using an online alias linked to Mr. Miller,
"Millerized," offers to bring his "firearm smithing" skills to the
community. "Millerized," is also one of the authors of the Citadel blog
<http://www.blogger.com/profile/14995088279331568405> . In addition to being
his online alias, "Millerized" was also the name of a company previously by
Mr. Miller that originally made motorcycle parts
<http://web.archive.org/web/20041222080908/http:/home.earthlink.net/~milleri
zed/pdnerf.htm> . Last October, Millerized began doing business as
<http://apps.sos.wv.gov/business/corporations/organization.aspx?org=311567>
"III Arms." The III Arms website <http://www.iiiarmscompany.com/about.html>
describes it as a firearms company "dedicated to building first-class
fighting arms for the defense of Jefferson's Rightful Liberty." III Arms
will have a factory inside the Citadel's walls that is planned to be the
prime source of revenue and employment
<http://www.iiicitadel.com/revenue.html>  for the project's early residents.
Mr. Miller is identified on LinkedIn
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-miller/55/860/269>  as the "president" of
III Arms. 

In addition to Mr. Miller's business activities, he has an extensive digital
trail that includes "Millerized's" participation in sites for self-described
doomsday "preppers
<http://pennsylvania.preppersnetwork.com/2009/04/theyre-watching.html> " and
survivalists. On one of these forums, Millerized describes work done in his
house where he has multiple cats
<http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=2901.0> . A web page
tied to Mr. Miller's name and address is also identified as having
participated in so-called
<http://www.phishtank.com/phish_detail.php?phish_id=1219010&frame=details>
"phishing" scams on a site dedicated to identifying these fraudulent
attempts to obtain personal information.

As of this writing, neither Mr. Miller or Mr. Kerodin have responded to
multiple requests for comment on this story. However, Mr. Miller seems to be
enjoying the attention the Citadel has recently received. A Facebook page
that seems to belong to Mr. Miller features pictures of customized military
fatigues
<https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4193446990199&set=pb.1105400787.-22
07520000.1358228151&type=3&theater>  with the III Arms logo and the words
"Millerized" and "Patriot." It also includes a picture
<https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4238353312829&set=a.4208978658481.2
154812.1105400787&type=3&theater>  of one of the Citadel's more prominent
media mentions, a headline about the community on the Drudge Report
<http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/iii-percent-citadel-makes-top-of-drudge/>
accompanied by the following caption from Mr. Miller:

"We are now huge."

For those interested in learning more, remember Google is your friend, but
be prepared to shower frequently.

What's that saying?  Oh, yeah, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Personally, I prefer to take the "scam" perspective because the alternative
is enough to chill the bones of any person with connected brain cells.

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men.

~ Abraham Lincoln

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Sunil Ramalingam
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 9:50 PM
To: keim153 at gmail.com
Cc: vision 2020; rhayes at frontier.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Another hate group

Darrell,

I agree, though I have to add that someone posted about them last month; I
think it was Tom.

Sunil

  _____  

Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:28:26 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Another hate group
From: keim153 at gmail.com
To: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com; rhayes at frontier.com

I am the original poster of this topic.  I never called it a hate group.  I
called them survivalists.  I think Roger Hayes changed the subject to a hate
tagline.  What say you, Roger?

On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 9:22 PM, Sunil Ramalingam
<sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm with Roger on this. Maybe they're complete nut jobs, but I don't know
that they're a hate group. 

What is the evidence behind that claim?

Sunil

  _____  

Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:36:50 +0100
To: thansen at moscow.com; keim153 at gmail.com
From: lfalen at turbonet.com
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com; rhayes at frontier.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Another hate group

I do not know anything about this group, but how does anyone know that they
are a hate group?  

A little bit wako probably, but not necessarily a hate group.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Another hate group
From: "Tom Hansen" 
To: "Darrell Keim" 
Date: 01/13/13 23:12:16

How's this for "freedom""

aerialConcept_lg.jpg

My father was a POW in Stalag Luft IIIA during the last year and a half of
WW2.  I am convinced that he experienced less isolation than the
freedom-loving residents of the Citadel.

Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"

http://www.MoscowCares.com

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still  

But first you must learn how to smile as you kill 
If you want to be like the folks on the hill." 

- John Lennon

On Jan 13, 2013, at 1:43 PM, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com
<http://index.html?_n%5bp%5d%5bmain%5d=win.main.tree&_n%5bp%5d%5bcontent%5d=
mail.compose&to=keim153%40gmail.com> > wrote:

Goodie.  So it will be like Bo Gritz "Almost Heaven" near Kamiah.
Wonderful.

On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 1:37 PM, rhayes at frontier.com
<http://index.html?_n%5bp%5d%5bmain%5d=win.main.tree&_n%5bp%5d%5bcontent%5d=
mail.compose&to=rhayes%40frontier.com>  <rhayes at frontier.com
<http://index.html?_n%5bp%5d%5bmain%5d=win.main.tree&_n%5bp%5d%5bcontent%5d=
mail.compose&to=rhayes%40frontier.com> > wrote:

The Southern Poverty Law Center has dismissed this "group" as a couple of
guys with a computer who are trying to drum up a following and bilk those
who take the bait of cash.

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