KKK, via Southern Poverty Law Center.

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

The FBI investigated a popular civil rights group in 2016 because agents believed the left-wing group may have been involved in a “conspiracy” to deny the “rights” of the KKK and other white supremacists, according to records obtained by the Guardian.

The records indicate that the FBI launched a “domestic terrorism” investigation into By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) after one of its members were stabbed at a white supremacist rally in June 2016.

The FBI cast the KKK as victims and labeled the activists as “extremists,” downplaying the Klan as a group “that some perceived to be supportive of a white supremacist agenda.”

The bureau considered BAMN a potential terrorism threat because of the group’s advocacy against “police brutality” and “rape and sexual assault.”

The FBI’s 46-page report ignored “100 years of Klan terrorism that has killed thousands of Americans and continues using violence right up to the present day,” said Mike German, a former FBI agent and far-right expert who examined the records for the Guardian. “This description of the KKK should be an embarrassment to FBI leadership.”

The report did not conclude that BAMN violated laws.

“It’s clear the FBI dropped the investigation having no evidence of wrongdoing. It never should have been opened in the first place,” Shanta Driver, BAMN’s national chair, said.

The FBI did not comment for the story.

‘El Chapo’ Guzman

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

The fate of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is now in the hands of a jury.

The jury heard 35 days of surreal, outlandish and often gruesome testimony from 56 government witnesses.

The seven women and five men on the jury are expected to begin deliberating Monday to determine whether the notorious 61-year-old conspired to murder countless rivals, traffic nearly 450,000 pounds of cocaine and launder millions of dollars.

During close arguments Thursday, Guzman’s attorneys told the jury to dismiss the government’s case because it relies on witnesses who “lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people,” NBC News reports.

Prosecutors said the trial provided an “avalanche of evidence” to prove Guzman’s guilt.

Guzman stayed quiet during the trial and declined to testify in his own defense.

“Señor judge, me and my attorneys have spoken about this,” Guzman said, “and I will reserve.”

His life is now in the hands of a jury.