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A Ku Klux Klan leader named Edward, who goes by the title "KKK Exalted Cyclops," is promising the "largest" rally in Memphis history after the city decided to remove Confederate names from three parks.

In an 9-0 vote on Tuesday night, the Memphis City Council approved temporary names for three Confederate-themed parks. Forest Park will become "Health Sciences Park," Confederate Park will be called "Memphis Park" and Jefferson Davis Park will get the name "Mississippi River Park."

On Thursday, the KKK Exalted Cyclops told WMC-TV that his group had started planning its response before the City Council even voted.

"You're going to see the largest rally Memphis, Tennessee has ever seen," he promised. "It's not going to be 20 or 30, it's going to be thousands of Klansmen from the whole United States coming to Memphis, Tennessee."

The KKK's rally is expected to be held in the newly-renamed "Health Sciences Park." Confederate Army lieutenant general Nathan Bedford Forrest, for whom the park was originally named, was elected to the post of KKK grand wizard after returning from the war.

The Memphis City Council acted quickly to change the park names because two state lawmakers have proposed the "Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2013," which would prevent local governments from changing the name of any "statue, monument, memorial, nameplate, plaque, historic flag display, school, street, bridge,building, park preserve, or reserve which has been erected for, or named or dedicated in honor of, any historical military figure, historical military event, military organization, or military unit."

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Police in Winnsboro, Louisiana confirmed on Monday that a woman had been set on fire over the weekend and racial slurs were found scrawled on her car.

Sharmeka Moffitt told police that she was attacked and burned by three men wearing white hoodies at a park in Franklin Parish on Sunday, according to KNOE.

At a press conference on Monday, police said that the letters "KKK" were spray-painted on the hood of her car.

Winnsboro Police Chief Kevin Cobb said that the FBI was investigating whether the incident was a hate crime, but authorities declined to classify the attack as racially motivated on Monday. The Franklin Parish Sheriff, Louisiana State Police and the state fire Marshall's office were also participating in the investigation.

A friend of the Moffitt family told KNOE that the victim had burns on 90 percent of her body and was currently in stable condition at the LSU-Shreveport hospital.

The Facebook page "Prayers for Sharmeka Moffitt" was created on Sunday night to support the victim and encourage the media to cover the story. By Monday afternoon, that page had received over 8,000 "likes."

UPDATE: Investigators are now saying that the injuries and "attack" were self-inflicted:

Two days after multiple law enforcement agencies began an investigation into the attack and burning of a Winnsboro woman at Civitan Park, authorities now believe the wounds were self-inflicted.

According to Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas, evidenced gathered at the scene of the incident shows 20-year-old Sharmeka Moffitt's initial claims that she was attacked and set on fire turned out to be false claims made up by Moffitt.

"This is a case in which the investigators had to pursue the facts that were presented," Thomas said. "It's been a very disturbing case for everyone involved."

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Authorities are investigating a possible hate crime after a sign honoring a civil rights hero was defaced in St. Louis.

The Missouri Department of Transportation removed the sign marking "Rosa Parks Highway" because it had been spray-painted with the letters "KKK," which is an abbreviation for the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group.

St. Louis County Police dispatched their crime scene unit to investigate early Friday morning.

According to KSDK, the Ku Klux Klan had at one time sponsored the Adopt-A-Highway litter control program on that stretch of Interstate 55. But their sign was taken down after lawmakers dedicated the road to Parks.

(H/T: Think Progress)

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After Governor Haley Barbour refused to denounce the proposed Mississippi license plates commemorating a former KKK leader and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, John King decided to bring in Sons of Confederate Veterans' Greg Stewart to defend his group's effort. And of course Mr. Stewart said this has absolutely nothing to do with slavery, or the Klan or racism. They're just wanting to honor this former Klan leader because of his military record in the Confederate Army.

That might be a little easier to swallow were it not for his group's recent history. David Neiwert wrote this about them after he found out that Joe "You Lie!" Wilson was a member -- Obama heckler Joe Wilson a member of neo-Confederate SCV, fought to keep Dixie flag flying in South Carolina:

Looking into the background of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, after his heckling of President Obama last night, I came across this:

Joe also has been a member of the Columbia World Affairs Council, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Sinclair Lodge 154, Jamil Temple, Woodmen of the World, Sons of Confederate Veterans, ....

This is an organization that, as the SPLC has detailed assiduously, has been taken over in the past decade by radical neo-Confederates who favor secession and defend slavery as a benign institution. Leading the takeover is a radical racist named Kirk Lyons, who's been an important legal figure on the far right for some years.* [More below]

Full transcript via CNN below the fold.

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Although I'm not a fan of "random idiot" stories, but this one might be reflective of deeper societal ills right now. It's also somewhat telling that the people in the clip don't seem that surprised.

Via KOMO news in Idaho.

HAYDEN, Idaho -- While most see the holiday season as one of joy and merrymaking, at least one Hayden, Idaho, resident is taking the opportunity to spread a little hate courtesy of a noose-carrying, KKK hood-wearing snowman on their front lawn, KXLY.com reported.

Several area parents first noticed the offensive snow sculpture, located in front of a home in the 9000 block of Hillview Drive, while taking their kids to school Tuesday morning.

The sculpture depicts a snowman with a pointed hat and an outstretched right hand with a noose in it. Residents in the neighborhood say the homeowners also have an Aryan Nations flag on display.

One resident said they were “appalled at the nerve they have to threaten people in our community with their signs of hatred,” adding that this is a season of love and hope, not hate.

The homeowner who had the offensive snow sculpture in front of his home is Mark, who was profiled by KXLY back in July for posting flags ranging from an Aryan Nations flag to an SS flag at his home, drawing the ire of his neighbors. Then in October he angered residents further when, according to neighbors, he passed out bullets on Halloween.

A self-described White Separatist, Mark, who declined to give his last name during an interview in July, said Tuesday there was nothing wrong with his snowman.

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The president of the NAACP condemned the New Black Panther Party Sunday but said there was really no comparison with the Tea Party.

On Tuesday, the NAACP voted to approve a resolution calling for the Tea Party to repudiate racist elements within their movement.

Since then, the nations's oldest civil rights group has been criticized for ignoring the racism exhibited by a small group called the New Black Panther Party. Conservative outlets like Fox News have pointed to a video where a member of the New Black Panther Party called for African-Americans to "kill cracker babies."

David Webb, co-founder of Tea Party 365, confronted NAACP president Ben Jealous about the New Black Panther Party Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation.

"I have a serious objection with is his selective condemnation of racism when he will not condemn the New Black Panther Party for saying that they want to kill crackers and kill cracker babies, whereas he would condemn the KKK or any element that shows up in and claims that they are a part of the Tea Party," said Webb.

"The reality here is that the New Black Panther Party is like 12 people, 13 people," responded Jealous. "They don't say these things at the NAACP. If they did, we would take them on."

"I said three times on a show with you last week so hear me this time. You know, bigots come in all colors. We absolutely denounce the New Black Panther Party. But they aren't in our group. These folks are in your groups," said Jealous.

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This is one of those stories that you just don't expect to see, a holdover from what most of us thought was a bygone era of overt racism. Some background on how the persistence of one law professor brought some long overdue change to the University of Texas. The news report above is from KXAN Austin, from early May just as this became a news story. The ensuing uproar caused UT to change their tune from this initial news report.

(CNN) -- A University of Texas at Austin student dormitory named after a man prominent in the Ku Klux Klan in the 1800s may soon have its name changed, university officials said.

University President William Powers Jr. will ask the university system's board of regents to rename Simkins Residence Hall, following a recommendation by a 21-member advisory group, according to a press release from the university.

Gregory Vincent, the university's vice president of diversity and community engagement, told CNN affiliate KXAN that naming a public building after a self-proclaimed racist compromised the university's image.

"We're certainly not erasing Professor Simkins from the annals of UT history," said Vincent. "All we are saying is that honorific is a very special designation and it should not harm the university's reputation."

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Jesus these two are about as dumb as a box of rocks. From Media Matters who I borrowed the title from here -- Bernie Goldberg: What if the DOJ hired "lawyers who had gone out of their way to defend members" of KKK?. Apparently Goldberg has never heard of the ACLU who defends everyone, even the likes of Rush Limbaugh or the concept of innocent before proven guilty. Bill-O and Goldberg do their best job of playing concern trolls for Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol here.

O’Reilly: So we wanted to know why the Attorney General hired these people and who the people were. Apparently the New York Times objects to those questions. Was there anything that I missed in this?

Goldberg: No. They don’t only object, they think it’s a smear. So let’s use the New York Times’ own logic. Let’s use their logic. They say we shouldn’t question the values of these lawyers who volunteered their time to defend the alleged terrorists. Okay that’s fine. Let’s say a right wing President and Attorney General hired lawyers to work in the Civil Rights Division, lawyers who had gone out of their way to defend members of the Klu Klux Klan. I think every decent person in the country would say why in the world would you hire those people? And they’d also say do those people have a philosophy or a point of view that might affect policy in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department? But you’re not allowed to ask….

O’Reilly: That’s a very, very good analogy. That’s an excellent analogy.

Uh...no it's not Bill. You know what's really ironic about watching these two have this idiotic conversation is that the Bush administration actually did put anti-civil rights zealots in charge of the Civil Rights Division. I don't think anyone would have been complaining if the only thing those men did was take a case where they defended someone who was in the KKK. They did their best to make sure that the poor and minorities in this country could not vote. Something I'm sure would not keep either O'Reilly or Goldberg up at night.

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Tom Tancredo continues his media blitz on Hardball with David Shuster giving him a chance to put his racism on display yet again. He refuses to apologize for the La Raza remark and says he's not sure if the Obama administration "hates white people" or not. He also says that the "moderates" in the GOP are the reason they're losing elections. Yes... Tom Tancredo actually thinks the GOP still has moderates in their ranks. Well okay, they've got two.

When Tancredo misstated what La Raza meant and Shuster tried to correct him he just shouted over him. I know if the GOP has any influence with Tancredo since he's not in the Congress any more, but if they do they'd be wise to tell him to get the hell off the air. He's not doing them any favors with these rants.

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Rick Sanchez brings on Tom Tancredo and Media Matters' Eric Boehlert to discuss the right's accusations that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist and should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court. Today Tancredo decided his dose of the crazy on The Ed Schultz Show just wasn't enough and takes it a step further.

h/t Think Progress for the transcript

TANCREDO: If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that’s going to convince me and a lot of other people that it’s got nothing to do with race. Even though the logo of La Raza is “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” What does that tell you?

SANCHEZ: Alright. We’re not talking about — we’re not talking about La Raza –

TANCREDO: She’s a member! She’s a member of La Raza!

Thankfully Media Matters' Boehlert was there for a dose of sanity and called out Rick Sanchez who was still quoting Sotomayor out of context and corrects him for his error. Boehlert, the author of the great book "Bloggers on the Bus," called the attacks on Sotomayor a "rush to the gutter by the right". You can watch the entire exchange courtesy of Media Matters here.

John Amato:

I ask once again. Why is Tom Tancredo on my TV? It's all for "conflict." He has nothing to offer and is no longer part of the GOP. He's a former anti-Latino House Republican who ran for president on a racist platform. He's there to call Sonia a racist. That's his function and it's one that he performs well. He's the Mozart of Racism.